Quiz of the year winner

By Margaret Harris

Congratulations to Dr Cristina Lazzeroni of Birmingham University for winning Physics World‘s 2009 Quiz of the year, which — as per tradition — looked back on a year of celebrations, retractions, notable discoveries and quotable personalities in the world of physics.

In addition to the everlasting glory of victory, Dr Lazzeroni will also receive a cheque for £50, which I suspect will just about cover a slap-up dinner in the UK’s second-largest city.

If you missed out on the quiz this year, it’s partly my fault: I got caught up in the end-of-the-year rush and forgot to get it posted online. I’ll try to rectify that soon, but please be advised that the prize itself is now closed to new entries.

If you’ve already tried the quiz, you can check your answers below:

A. Petrified wood
B. Peter Terren
C. 500 m
D. 53 (although earlier reports said 52, so we accepted this answer too)

1. Johannes Kepler
2. the World Wide Web
3. Austria
4. Lisa Raitt
5. Gordon Brown
6. Stephen Hawking
7. E (Lawrence Krauss)
8. D (Miyuki Hatoyama)
9. A (Buzz Aldrin)
10. B (Alan Boss)
11. F (Colin Pillinger)
12. C (Catherine Cesarsky)
13. B (antibacterial underwear)
14. A (Cillit Bang and Mr Muscle)
15. D (copernicium)
16. B (Apollo 11)
17. C (Abraham Lincoln)
18. B (410) This was the most frequently missed question. But according to the Extrasolar Planet Encyclopedia, on 1 December 2009 there were just over 400 known exoplanets. Today there are 424, but nine of these were discovered in 2010, and a clutch of others were spotted in late December. So 410 is the correct answer, rounded to the nearest 10.
19. B (17)
20. A (seedlings grew faster)