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Things Named for Inventors

These objects were named for their inventors. Guess what they are.
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Last updated: July 27, 2025
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First submittedJanuary 8, 2012
Times taken72,336
Average score60.0%
Rating4.40
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Description
Invention
3-D puzzle popular in the 1980s
Rubik's cube
Amusement park ride
Ferris wheel
Device for measuring radiation
Geiger counter
Method of telegraph communication
Morse code
Raincoat made from rubberized fabric
Mackintosh
Diagram that shows the union and
intersection of different sets
Venn diagram
Scale for measuring the intensity
of earthquakes
Richter Scale
Two pieces of bread with
fillings between them
Sandwich
Yoga-like exercise system
Pilates
Used for canning fruit
Mason jar
Description
Invention
Ice-rink smoother
Zamboni
Marching band tuba
Sousaphone
Rigid dirigible
Zeppelin
Inkblots used by psychologists
Rorschach test
Method of reading for the blind
Braille
Place where cells are cultured
Petri dish
Early photographic process
Daguerreotype
Conical laboratory flask
Erlenmeyer flask
Laboratory equipment that
produces a gas flame
Bunsen burner
19th century machine gun
with a crank
Gatling gun
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93 Comments
+2
Level 53
Jan 8, 2012
I knew Petri, but I could not remember how to spell it. Other than that, 19/24.
+1
Level 46
Aug 1, 2025
I had the same issue with Sousaphone
+6
Level 62
Jan 8, 2012
Am I the only one who thinks "X Files" when confronted with Erlenmeyer flask as an answer?
+2
Level 68
Dec 8, 2014
Nope :D
+9
Level 68
Jun 21, 2015
I think of "Breaking Bad."
+4
Level 60
Jul 12, 2018
You are not alone, and also, the truth is out there.
+2
Level 65
Apr 1, 2024
never heard of an erlenmeyer flask outside of Jetpunk. It was just called a conical flask in my chemistry days. I think it's another US thing. on which subject what's a Graham cracker and why should anyone be aware of its existance?
+4
Level 76
Apr 10, 2025
It is called erlenmeyer in many languages ( with or without a local version of the word flask)
+4
Level 86
Jul 27, 2025
The oppposite, conical flask seems to be a mostly British thing, other languages mostly use a version of Erlenmeyer.
+1
Level 13
Aug 1, 2025
We called it erlenmeyer in chemistry lessons in spain
+6
Level 43
Jan 8, 2012
No, and I don't think I am the only one who thought of Watchmen with the Rorschach test.
+1
Level 59
Feb 11, 2022
Definitely not :D
+3
Level 58
Jan 8, 2012
why use the word dirigible instead of airship?
+9
Level 79
Dec 8, 2014
why not? Dirigible is a fun word and was used more commonly at the time zeppelins were in common use anyway.
+1
Level 35
Dec 9, 2014
why wasn't it a blimp?
+4
Level 44
Jul 13, 2018
yakdog is correct. A rigid dirigible has a hard metal frame, whereas a blimp is simply inflated like a balloon. If you have ever seen the footage from the Hindenburg Disaster you can see it has a large metal frame that supported it, which made it a rigid dirigible. I hope that helps answer your question (which I realize after writing this was from 4 years ago, haha).
+3
Level 59
Feb 11, 2022
I never heard that word before...
+3
Level 76
Jan 9, 2012
Got the chemistry ones thanks to "Breaking Bad."
+1
Level 41
Jan 18, 2012
@kevinj, no you are not, I also thought of Watchmen - Who Watches The Watchmen?
+1
Level 79
Dec 8, 2014
I watched Watchmen. A bunch of times. Great movie. Especially the director's cut.
+2
Level 43
Dec 8, 2014
It was alright, but changing the ending was a huge mistake.
+2
Level 79
Dec 8, 2014
Beg to differ. Keeping the ending would have been a huge mistake. The movie's ending was much better than the comic book. Giant robot squid? c'mon...
+3
Level 93
Feb 11, 2022
As much as Zack Snyder gets bashed for some things, one thing I will give him credit for is that he is really good at making shots that look like they belong in a comic book. I think Watchmen might be my favorite Zack Snyder film, perhaps even his best.
+3
Level 31
Mar 22, 2012
Could another answer for the yoga question be "Bikram"?
+3
Level 80
Nov 26, 2014
I thought the same thing initially, but Bikram is actual yoga, not yoga-like.
+2
Level 72
Feb 24, 2014
What are the chances of accepting Kilner jar for we non-Americans? Both were invented by the Kilner family in the UK, but they're known as Kilner jars over here.
+2
Level ∞
Oct 22, 2014
Okay, that will work now.
+1
Level 67
Apr 25, 2014
Got everything but Venn, Sousa, Bowie and Gatling. Got Rorschach at the first try, to my everlasting surprise, and Kalashnikov on the second (wrote CH at first). I was very glad to be French when I saw Daguerre, Braille and Foucault, though! Nice quiz, I learned a lot with this one!
+1
Level 85
Jun 10, 2014
23/24 because I left the "s" off of Pilates
+5
Level 94
Oct 23, 2014
But (in)famous though he is, I don't think anything was ever named after poor Pontius
+1
Level 75
Jun 27, 2014
Zambini... zambini.. it's something like that... nope..
+1
Level 44
Jul 3, 2014
It's ZOOMBINIS!

Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

+3
Level 35
Dec 9, 2014
I tried at least 5 variations of zambini....

And took me forever to spell Rohrshach right...think I'm back to wrong already

+2
Level 73
Jul 12, 2018
I'm embarrassed to admit my first try was Gambini. I just watched My Cousin Vinny.
+1
Level 76
Jul 31, 2025
Zambezi :D
+1
Level 57
Dec 8, 2014
I got two by taking wild guesses at the bowie knife clue.
+5
Level 85
Dec 8, 2014
I've never heard of raincoat called a Mackintosh. Everything else was pretty easy (except for some of the spellings...)
+1
Level 91
Jul 12, 2018
Yeah I've never heard of it either
+3
Level 80
Jul 12, 2018
It's a very common term in Britain, often shortened to just "mack."
+2
Level 70
Jul 13, 2018
Or 'Mac'
+1
Level 44
Feb 12, 2022
I know it from reading Paddington bear as a child. :)
+1
Level 44
Dec 8, 2014
Got Erlenmeyer Flask thanks to Walter White.
+2
Level 55
Dec 9, 2014
Never heard of a Sousaphone, but a Saxophone (which isn't a marching band instrument, I know) was named for someone named Sachs. (Apparently not, wikipedia says Sax!)
+1
Level 82
Jul 12, 2018
Surely a sousaphone is a Liverpudlian communication device
+4
Level 88
Feb 12, 2022
That would be a scousaphone
+2
Level 43
May 30, 2016
The talbotype is another early photographic process (1841, just two years after the daguerreotype) also named after its inventor
+2
Level 54
Jul 19, 2016
I still got it right but you should accept Maxim gun for 19th century machine gun. The Maxim was a true machine gun that was gas powered instead of hand crank of the Gatling.
+1
Level 68
Feb 7, 2017
Agree, and it even has a cool rhyme to go with it
+1
Level 66
Mar 8, 2017
Not even one element?
+6
Level 82
Apr 22, 2018
Elements don't tend to be invented, more discovered.
+1
Level 54
Jul 28, 2025
Modern elements are invented.
+2
Level 95
Jul 28, 2025
Not really invented. Their atomic natures are pre-determined, and it’s a question of technological advances needed to produce the “new” elements.
+2
Level 54
Apr 12, 2017
couldn't spell sousaphone
+1
Level 46
May 1, 2017
Could Gatling also be Maxim?
+1
Level 79
Jun 11, 2017
For Mackintosh, I accidentally typed in Mac and I got it. I was trying to say machete for the second to last one, for some reason.
+2
Level 79
Sep 7, 2017
erlyn myer could use many extra type-ins
+2
Level ∞
Sep 12, 2017
Added some more variations to the many that already existed.
+1
Level 79
Jul 12, 2018
thanks. helpful.
+1
Level 76
Sep 7, 2017
Stupid. I couldn't get past Dewar's flask (laboratory thermos flask) instead of Erlenmeyer flask. Doh
+1
Level 88
Jul 12, 2018
Consider adding Teclu and Meker for the gas burners?
+1
Level 80
Jul 12, 2018
Man, I've been working with or around Erlenmeyer flasks for around 15 years and I apparently have no idea how to spell it.
+4
Level 80
Oct 13, 2019
More than a year later and I still want to put a random "h" in it somewhere for some reason.
+1
Level 67
Jul 12, 2018
+1 here if Urza's Destiny's set symbol helped you remember Erlenmeyer Flask.
+1
Level 72
Jul 12, 2018
I'm disappointed there are no complaints about the definition of a sandwich!
+1
Level 70
Jul 13, 2018
Does a filling between two pieces of bread make you feel better?
+1
Level 79
Aug 24, 2020
Was also thinking tommy gun for a second. I thought of Erlen and Meyer but didn't put them together haha
+1
Level 51
Apr 26, 2021
didnt venn not actually make the diagram
+1
Level 73
Sep 29, 2021
This quiz is a Good Quiz.
+2
Level 34
Feb 11, 2022
The monorail was invented by George Monorail!
+2
Level 64
Feb 11, 2022
In America, when someone talks about a Macintosh, it's either an apple or an Apple.
+1
Level 67
Sep 15, 2022
Tried "Rambo" knife
+1
Level 48
Jul 6, 2024
Really should accept mores spellings for daugerrotype, suzaphone, and foccaults pendulum lmao
+2
Level 87
Jul 27, 2025
The Earl of Sandwich invented the sandwich. Samuel Morse invented the Morse Code. Plato invented the plate. And now I, Holly, have invented the Holly Hop Drive.
+1
Level 82
Jul 27, 2025
I got all except Ice rink smoother! Tried Xerox and Xanax 🤦‍♂️
+1
Level 85
Jul 27, 2025
I suppose "Paddington" coat isn't the real name for it...
+2
Level 87
Jul 27, 2025
"And the banker never wears a Mac...in the pouring rain...very strange."
+2
Level 84
Jul 28, 2025
Giuseppe Mercalli would like to have a word with you...
+1
Level 68
Jul 28, 2025
I would have thought "Zepplin" should work as an acceptable mis-spelling....
+2
Level 68
Jul 31, 2025
I believe that the Richter Scale measures magnitude whereas the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) Scale measures intensity of earthquakes. The difference being magnitude measures the energy, intensity measures the effects.

So either Mercalli should be the correct answer or the word intensity should be changed for magnitude.

+2
Level 83
Jul 31, 2025
The Sousaphone was actually invented by JW Pepper at the behest of John Philip Sousa.
+1
Level 68
Jul 31, 2025
Worked in medical labs most of my working life, only ever called a conical flask just that - a conical flask. Never heard of a Erlenmeyer flask!
+1
Level 65
Jul 31, 2025
Same. Must be an American thing I guess
+2
Level 74
Jul 31, 2025
Not to be confused with the Fenris wheel, which is terribly dangerous at the end of days; specifically Wednesday.
+2
Level 65
Jul 31, 2025
Would bikram not count as a possible solution to the yoga question?
+1
Level 40
Jul 31, 2025
How did I not get Braille?
+4
Level 93
Aug 4, 2025
I guess you just weren't feeling it ;)
+1
Level 61
Sep 9, 2025
I kept typing pirates instead of pilates, "shiver me timbers!"
+1
Level 19
Sep 9, 2025
Venn diagram should take correct answers as Eulero-Venn, Eulero Venn and Eulero...
+1
Level 34
Sep 9, 2025
technically Bunsen didn't invent the Bunsen burner, but rather popularised it
+1
Level 69
Oct 21, 2025
I spent SO MUCH TIME trying to find the correct spelling of Rorschach x)
+1
Level 68
Dec 4, 2025
I forgot the s for pilates :(
+1
Level 80
Feb 28, 2026
Actually Euler was the one to first use those diagrams, Venn was the guy that popularized them
+1
Level 46
Mar 5, 2026
Happy that I knew all of them but sad I could not spell Daguerreotype… my attempts were plentiful and wrong.