Having just had the most disastrous Mimir-style quiz ever that unmasked by fraudulent attempt to portray myself as intelligent, I have started to recuperate by re-working these killer questions. A few none Dutch ones here, but I’m sure I was following an orange thread at the time…
Questions
The enthalpy-entropy diagram is also known as what diagram, after a German scientist with the forename Richard? These diagrams are routinely used by engineers in designing things like power plants and refrigeration systems.
MOLLIER DIAGRAM
Also a pioneer in the development of the artifical heart, which Dutch scientist made his major discoveries on dialysis for kidney failure during World War II?
WILLEM KOLFF
A key name in the field of stereochemistry and having a ‘factor’ named after him that relates to the concept of osmotic pressure, which Dutchman was the very first winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry?
JACOBUS VAN ‘T HOFF
Currently on display at the Art Institute of Chicago, what is the name of the 1955 Willem de Kooning painting that was the most expensive sold prior to Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi”?
INTERCHANGE
How does the colourful Milan sculpture by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen called “Ago, filo e nodo” translate?
NEEDLE, THREAD AND KNOT
Originally named by the Dutch after the ‘bowl’ shaped valley in which it sits, what is the corrupted name by which the capital of the island of Saba goes?
THE BOTTOM
Recognised as a regional language and listed as vulnerable in UNESCO’s “Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger”, what three-word term is given to a dialect of Low German spoken in the north-east Netherlands? It does have a version of Wikipedia advertised as “De vrye encyklopedy”.
DUTCH LOW SAXON
Written in the Latin script and a recognised minority language in the Netherlands, which Romani language is characterised by significant German influence and is not mutually intelligible with other forms of Romani? It is spoken in a good number of European countries, including Serbia and Croatia.
SINTE ROMANI
Signed in The Hague, in which year did the Act of Abjuration occur that saw the proclamation of Dutch independence from the kingdom of Spain? Among the events to occur in the aftermath was the assassination of William the Silent in Delft.
1581
Depicted in a painting by Gerard ter Borch, in which year was Dutch independence recognised through the Peace of Münster?
1648
Holding the title of Grand Duke of Luxembourg at the same time, in which year did William I become the first King of the Netherlands? He abdicated not long after the independence of Belgium was accepted by the Dutch.
1815
Which three-word Latin term meaning ‘a part for the whole’ can refer to the Netherlands being called Holland? This figure of speech along with its inverse make up the form of metonymy known by the term ‘synecdoche’.
PARS PRO TOTO (The inverse being ‘Totum pro parte’)
The Dutch term being ‘verzuiling’, the Netherlands is one of the best examples of which institutional segregation of society grouped by religion and political beliefs? An example of one section would be bodies like political parties, unions and newspapers all being linked to the Catholic Church.
PILLARISATION
Joos van Craesbeeck, who is perhaps best remembered for the dismembered head that features in his painting “The Temptation of St. Anthony”, is thought to have been taught by which genre painter who was imprisoned at the time in Antwerp Citadel?
ADRIAEN BROUWER
Named for a female German art collector, what is the name of the double-barreled art museum in the village of Otterlo that contains the second largest collection of paintings by Vincent Van Gogh?
KRÖLLER-MÜLLER MUSEUM
In which national park can the Kröller-Müller museum be found, an area consisting of heathlands, sand dunes and woodlands?
HOGE VELUWE
In which Dutch province can the Hoge Veluwe National Park be found, and thus the Kröller-Müller Museum and the village of Otterlo?
GELDERLAND
Taking place on the river Scheldt, the 1784 Kettle War took place between the Republic of the Netherlands and which other entity, with the war getting its name because a kettle was the victim of the only shot fired?
HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE
Sites related to it being found in the Netherlands, which large European city gives its name to an Upper Paleolithic culture that existed from around 13,000 to 10,000 BC, their activities including hunting reindeers with spears?
HAMBURG
Named for a village 25km to the north-east of Hamburg in Schleswig-Holstein, which culture existed during the Younger Dryas period, their people starting to use the bow and arrow to hunt reindeer in an upgrade to the spear?
AHRENSBURG
Which culture of the early Mesolithic period takes its name from a Danish archaeological site situated near Gørlev and Høng in western Zealand, south of Lake Tissø?
MAGLEMOSIAN
The Drenthe village of Pesse gives its name to an archaeological discovery of what type of vehicle, which is thought to be the oldest found in the world with it dating back to around 8,000 BC?
CANOE
Its football team winning promotion to the Eredivisie for the first time in 2018, what is the largest city in Drenthe?
EMMEN
Home to a motor racing circuit that hosts the Dutch TT and is popularly known as ‘The Cathedral’, what is the capital of Drenthe?
ASSEN
Having a ‘small’ Pomor museum dedicated to the namesake people who lived around the White Sea, the settlement of Barentsburg is the second largest on which island?
SPITSBERGEN
Previously known as the Murman Sea after an old Russian word for the Norse people that lives on in the name of the modern city of Murmansk, which marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean lies to the south-east of the Svalbard archipelago?
BARENTS SEA
The Kara Sea is separated from the Barents Sea by which archipelago that is made up of two islands, the Matochkin Strait running between them?
NOVAYA ZEMLYA
Located about halfway between Spitsbergen and the Norwegian mainland, which island named for an animal is the southernmost of the Svalbard archipelago, Willem Barentsz being one of its discoverers in the late 16th century?
BEAR ISLAND
Existing from 1549 until the Act of Abjuration of 1581, into how many provinces were the Imperial States of the Habsburg Netherlands divided? Three of these were the County of Artois, the Duchy of Luxembourg and the Lordship of Groningen.
SEVENTEEN
Willem Barentz’ efforts to find the Northeast passage were unsuccessful with the first confirmed crossing occurring nearly 300 years later. This occurred during the Vega expedition led by which Helsinki-born mineralogist, who has an archipelago in the Kara Sea named for him as well as formerly giving his name to the Laptev Sea?
ADOLF ERIK NORDENSKIÖLD
The Oerol festival is a ten-day event where which second largest of the West Frisian Islands is conceived to be the entire stage, the event’s name meaning ‘everywhere’? Willem Barentsz was born on this island.
TERSCHELLING
First recorded during the doomed third expedition of Willem Barentz’ attempts to find the Northeast passage, which effect is a polar mirage that makes it seem that the sun is rising earlier than it should?
NOVAYA ZEMLYA EFFECT
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