A very nice quiz - and an good one to take on the 14th July (especially the guillotine question) (:
Could you please add "Montgolfier" as an acceptable answer? The original type of the hot air balloons is also called this way (after its inventors). Thank you (:
By definition the Systeme International was agreed on by an international committee. It is the system by which one (metric) measure is used as the standard unit for each quantity. (Eg Metres for length, Kilogrammes for mass).
The Metric System on which SI was based, which provides names for all magnitudes of those quantities, is the thing that was invented by the French, inspired by the Revolution and made widespread by Napoleon.
The Maiden (also known as the Scottish Maiden) is an early form of guillotine, or gibbet, that was used between the 16th and 18th centuries as a means of execution in Edinburgh, Scotland. The device was introduced in 1564 during the reign of Mary Queen of Scots, and was last used in 1716. It long predates the use of the guillotine during the French Revolution.
France continues (with a few other countries) to carry the banner of forward thinking and global cooperation while the countries that constantly look down on France plunge backwards into antiquated tribalism. So I think it's time we retire this "white flag" joke, and give the French their due.
"Forward thinking and global cooperation", like they do in Africa? Is that what backwards covert exploitative colonialism is called these days? Sorry, I'm a little rusty in newspeak.
The guillotine probably does not belong on this list. Beheading machines existing long before the revolution, such as the Halifax gibbet- used as early as the 13th century. The guillotine as we now know it was invented by a German, Tobias Schmidt.
You answered yourself: beheading machines existed, not the guillotine. The question in "more humane way to behead someone" not "first beheading machine"
While Marie maintained her Polish identity, it seems perfectly fair to count the elements she discovered in France, with her French husband, as a naturalized French citizen, as French discoveries.
Could you please add "Montgolfier" as an acceptable answer? The original type of the hot air balloons is also called this way (after its inventors). Thank you (:
The Metric System on which SI was based, which provides names for all magnitudes of those quantities, is the thing that was invented by the French, inspired by the Revolution and made widespread by Napoleon.
oh, wait, no... it has.