The New General Knowledge Thread

John

Question 1:

What is the name of the giant whose skeleton is on display in the anatomy building?

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

Great White Elk?

Kevin_rc_ie

RoundTower-You sure you're night confussing the Great Irish Elk (Megaceros giganteus) skeleton in the museum building with what i can only assume is a skeleton of a large person in the anatomy buiilding

John

Yes, a large person. I'm sure Indy will know it.

DrIndy

oooh oooh.... cornelius mcgrath.

What was the name of the Trinity member of the medical school who invented the hypodermic syringe.

Kevin_rc_ie

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blsyringe.htm

?

Kevin_rc_ie

Francis Rynd?

seems to be a lot of disagreement over the inventors of stuff.

DrIndy

For what is James Ussher (of the new library) most famous internationally for?

Ron DMC

DrIndy wrote:

For what is James Ussher (of the new library) most famous internationally for?

Wikipedia wrote:

who most famously published a chronology which dated creation from 4004 BC.

There you go

Kevin_rc_ie

from wikipedia

his most famous work was the Annales veteris testamenti, a prima mundi origine deducti ("Annals of the Old Testament, deduced from the first origins of the world"), published in 1650. In this work, he claimed, infamously, that the earth was created on the evening preceding October 23, 4004 BC. This work established what has become known as the Ussher-Lightfoot Calendar

also

Ussher engaged in extensive debate with Catholic theologians, and pressed for firm measures to be taken against Irish Catholics

for someone who entered college at 13 he was a bit ....thick.

John

Bah, I knew the answer to that without having to consult wikipedia! Next question!

Kevin_rc_ie

2nd oldest society in college smarty pants?

DrIndy

phil/hist

depending on which one you are from.........

DrIndy

What really cool guy qualified in medicine in 2005?

Kevin_rc_ie

it's neither the hist or the phil.



My original question was which society is oldest excluding the hist and phil.

I think the Phil was made, then the one I'm talking about, then the Hist. Could be wrong.

DrIndy

Why was the Phil banned from college for over 100 years when they set up camp in the RDS?

Kevin_rc_ie

I heard the auditor of the phil a few hundred years ago or something killed someguy (stabed him with his trusty sabre) because he bad mouthed their club

DrIndy

It was the junior Dean at the time and he got a sword through his belly......

Violent times back then.

aodh_rua

I thought it was the Bursar - and they set up the RDS while they were in exile.

What's the oldest building in College?

snorlax

the rubrics(is that how you spell it?)


ques: what position was trinity ranked in the world in the recently published Times Educational Supplement(try guessing if you don't know!)

Ron DMC

twenty somethingth i think

DrIndy

97th?

Who was the only Irish recipient of a Nobel Prize in Science?

snorlax

no but indy's the closest!

desertcircus

If I remember correctly, Trinity came in at eighty-something...

As for the oldest society excluding the Phil and Hist, it's the Theo, founded 1830.

Kevin_rc_ie

Someone said that already and I told them they were incorrect. Maybe I am wrong. I'll let Angry Banana clarify that.

wayfarer

87th it was

and the nobel-prizewinner was Ernest Walton. My knowledge of trivia on Trinity sucks so somebody else can ask a question.

wayfarer

Alright, what it the sculpture in front of the Berkeley supposed to symbolise?

Kevin_rc_ie

Did they explain this to us in the UR an edition or two ago? A world moving within a world...hmm...don't know.

DrIndy

its a world within a world and is a replica of the one outside the UN in new york.

What is the other name for Front Square and why is it so named?

wayfarer

Quad. Coz thats the way its shaped I suppose.

What was Hamiltons discovery?

Kevin_rc_ie

wikipedia:

Hamilton's discovery of quaternions is his best known investigation.

wayfarer

Thats it! This is what he wrote on the side of Broom Bridge while out for a stroll along the royal Canal one day after getting a rush of blood to the head.

i^2 = j^2 = k^2 = ijk = −1

And arent you supposed to ask a question after youve anwsered one? Anyway,

A list of the '100 Best Novels of the 20th Century' was published which contained a book that had a Trinity Law student as the protagonist. What was it called and who was the Author? A local drinking establishment is named after it.

Kevin_rc_ie

The Wind jammer.

hehe.

The Gingerman.

Doyles.

REdz

wayfarer

You might stumble on the title like that but you wont get the author

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

The Gingerman - JP Dunleavy!

Q:

How much is Trinity worth (for insurance purposes)?

Kevin_rc_ie

A billion dollars.

DrIndy

€300 Million

punka

Kevin_rc_ie wrote:

2nd oldest society in college smarty pants?

it's either the biological or the geography...as together with the other 3 (hist/phil/theo) they were the original 5 societies which had rooms in the gmb when it was built. (classical may go back to 1808 but that's another story, and an unconfirmed one at that).

Kevin_rc_ie

don't beleive you punka.

punka

don't believe which bit?

Kevin_rc_ie

Every single bit of it.

punka

seriously hurt.
classical stuff - ok, that's dodgy ground. so i'll grant you that. our records only go back to 1906 but we do think there was some activity before that. various references in the minutes etc.

but what i have been told is that the gmb was built to house the 5 student societies extant at the time - hist phil theo geography biological. then the geo & bio socs became defunct and lost their rights to the gmb, and never got their rooms back.


hang on. just had a thought.
are you counting the chapel choir?

desertcircus

I've checked the College Calendar, and the Theo is ranked as third oldest. The Phil in 1684, the Hist in 1770, and the Theo in 1830. The next up is the Choral Society, founded 1837. What do you have in mind? One of the old societies which have disappeared, like the Laurentian or the Eliz?

And regarding the name of Front Square - I'd imagine that it's either Parliament Square or Library Square...

Kevin_rc_ie

I concede defeat on this topic and offer apologies to all concerned.

I was under the impression, the Christian Union society was created soon after the Hist or the Phil was.

DrIndy

Parliament square .... and why?

Kevin_rc_ie

becuase the first anglo-irish parliment sat in trinity.

DrIndy

No in the Bank of Ireland across the road - hence the cannons out the front of the place.

Who owned St. Stephens green before it was given to the city of dublin?

Kevin_rc_ie

St Stephen.

DrIndy

LOL!

Try again........

punka

the guinness family

John

Didn't the Guinness family open it up to the public? I would have thought it belonged to the people living beside it in the same manner as Merrion Square. But being a TCD general knowledge thread there must be a TCD connection. So I'll say the Provost.