On Friday evening 2 October 2015, the first Twente Science Night took place in Enschede city centre. The motto of the evening was 'Celebrate the Light'. KIVI Students Twente was on hand with a musical pub quiz about science, technology and light!
First Twente Science Night a success!
While four prominent scientists gave lectures on the possibilities and properties of light in the Grote Kerk on Enschede's Oude Markt square, the first Twente Science Night pub quiz, organised by KIVI Students Twente, took place less than 100 metres away. In café Central Park, 21 teams of between two and nine participants competed in questions about science, technology and light. The role of quizmaster was played by Enschede's most famous quizmaster, Tom Kuijpers. In between the questions, pianist (and robot scientist) Edwin Dertien and saxophonist Gijs van Oort improvised lustily. Their musical highlight took place during the music round of the pub quiz, in which they performed songs within the theme, which had to be guessed by the teams.
Twente Academy's Science on Tour demonstration team was also present to perform five spectacular experiments in the pub. After which Swiss mathematician and physicist (born in Groningen, by the way) is named the law that ensures that a Styrofoam plate stays silent when blown on top of it with a hairdryer (and also ensures that aeroplanes keep flying)? And what is the name of the principle where air particles absorb electrically charged particles under the display of lightning?
Between these spectacular parts came dozens of 'regular' questions. How long is the Afsluitdijk? In the novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the English name of which country is a swear word throughout the universe, except on Earth where no one knows the real meaning? Which fictional helper was invented in 1956 by Carl Banks as a device that could read a cat's thoughts?which portable device (the first version of which consisted of a soapbox, a pillowcase, a fan and tape) was invented by James Spengler in 1907? Which internist and engineer invented the artificial kidney in Kampen in 1943? Which electronics giant was Gordon Moore (founder of 'Moore's Law') one of its founders? Which telecommunications technology was invented by Dutchman Jaap Haartsen, then working for the Swedish company Ericsson? Approximately how many minutes does the sun's light take to reach Earth? With which statement did René Descartes lay the foundation for enlightenment? And so on and so forth....
After a long, exhausting but enjoyable battle, one team emerged as the clear winner. All present agreed that they were probably witnessing the kick-off of an annual phenomenon and thus the birth of a tradition.
Answers to the questions (respectively): Daniel Bernoulli, ionisation, 32 kilometres, Belgium, Lamp, the hoover, Willem Kolff, Intel, Bluetooth, 8 minutes, Cogito ergo sum
