Questions & Answers
Browse all 20 questions from the
Historical Milestones in Life Science study set below.
Each question shows the correct answer — select a study format above to practice interactively.
1
In what year did James Watson and Francis Crick publish their discovery of the double helix structure of DNA?
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A
1953
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B
1948
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C
1960
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D
1945
2
Who is credited with first observing microorganisms, which he called 'animalcules', using a single-lens microscope?
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A
Louis Pasteur
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B
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
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C
Robert Hooke
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D
Gregor Mendel
3
Which scientist is known as the father of modern genetics for his experiments with pea plants?
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A
Charles Darwin
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B
Thomas Hunt Morgan
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C
Gregor Mendel
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D
Alfred Hershey
4
In 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered the antibacterial properties of which substance?
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A
Streptomycin
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B
Penicillin
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C
Aspirin
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D
Insulin
5
What was the name of the first mammal to be successfully cloned from an adult somatic cell in 1996?
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A
Dolly the sheep
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B
Snuppy the dog
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C
CC the cat
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D
Prometea the horse
6
Which landmark expedition did Charles Darwin join in 1831, which provided the observations for his theory of evolution?
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A
The voyage of the Endeavour
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B
The voyage of the HMS Beagle
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C
The Challenger expedition
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D
The Discovery expedition
7
Which scientist proposed the 'germ theory of disease' and developed the process of pasteurization?
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A
Joseph Lister
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B
Robert Koch
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C
Louis Pasteur
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D
Edward Jenner
8
In 1665, who coined the term 'cell' while observing cork tissue under a microscope?
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A
Robert Hooke
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B
Zacharias Janssen
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C
Matthias Schleiden
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D
Theodor Schwann
9
Which woman's X-ray diffraction images of DNA were critical to identifying its double-helix structure?
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A
Barbara McClintock
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B
Rosalind Franklin
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C
Marie Curie
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D
Elizabeth Blackburn
10
What major biological theory did Matthias Schleiden and Theodor Schwann formulate in the 1830s?
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A
Evolutionary theory
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B
Germ theory
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C
Cell theory
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D
Gene theory
11
Which explorer and naturalist is credited with independently conceiving the theory of evolution by natural selection alongside Darwin?
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A
Alfred Russel Wallace
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B
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
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C
Thomas Malthus
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D
Carl Linnaeus
12
In 1735, who published 'Systema Naturae', establishing the modern system of binomial nomenclature?
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A
Georges Cuvier
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B
Carl Linnaeus
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C
Ernst Haeckel
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D
John Ray
13
Who developed the smallpox vaccine in 1796, which is widely considered the first successful vaccine?
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A
Louis Pasteur
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B
Edward Jenner
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C
Jonas Salk
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D
Robert Koch
14
The Human Genome Project, an international research effort to sequence the human genome, was officially completed in which year?
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A
1995
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B
2003
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C
2010
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D
1999
15
What did Barbara McClintock discover in the 1940s, which earned her a Nobel Prize decades later?
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A
DNA sequencing
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B
Mobile genetic elements (transposons)
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C
The structure of proteins
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D
CRISPR technology
16
In 1952, the Hershey-Chase experiment confirmed that which molecule carries genetic information?
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A
Protein
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B
DNA
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C
RNA
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D
Lipids
17
Who discovered the process of 'transformation' in bacteria in 1928, proving genetic material could be transferred?
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A
Frederick Griffith
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B
Oswald Avery
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C
Joshua Lederberg
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D
Francis Crick
18
Which chemical was the first to be identified as an 'antibiotic' by Selman Waksman, who also coined the term?
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A
Penicillin
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B
Streptomycin
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C
Tetracycline
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D
Erythromycin
19
What year did the World Health Organization declare that smallpox had been eradicated?
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A
1970
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B
1980
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C
1990
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D
1965
20
Which scientist demonstrated in 1861 that spontaneous generation of microorganisms did not occur by using S-shaped flasks?
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A
Louis Pasteur
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B
John Tyndall
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C
Lazzaro Spallanzani
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D
Francesco Redi
