Girls bested boys on 1st SAT, 1926

The 8,040 students who took the first Scholastic Aptitude Test in 1926 were given 97 minutes to answer 315 questions measuring their mathematical and verbal skills. (They were not expected to complete all the questions in the time allotted.) When all the SAT scores were tallied and analyzed, the test administrators reported that the girls had outperformed the boys on the test.

The SAT was devised by Carl Bingham, a psychology professor at which institution? A) Cornell University

B) University of Notre Dame

C) Princeton University

D) Swarthmore College

Answer: The SAT was devised by Carl Bingham, a psychology professor at Princeton.

Many cultures celebrate solstice

Ullortuneq, Greenlandic for the “longest day,” is celebrated as a national holiday in Greenland on June 21. Throughout history, the summer solstice has been a traditional day of celebration, especially in northern locations. June 21 gained official status as Greenland’s National Day in 1983.

In Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” who is the queen of the fairies? A) Hermia

B) Thisbe

C) Titania

D) Viola

Answer: Titania is the queen of the fairies in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer

Night’s Dream.”

Origin of gerrymandering word

Gerrymandering involves redrawing the boundaries of voting districts to favor one political party. Gerry refers to Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry, who, it should be noted, pronounced his surname with a hard G. It’s said he had misgivings about the scheme to give his DemocraticRepublican Party an advantage at the polls in 1812, right up until he signed the plan into law. While sketching the new voting district map, artist Elkanah Tisdale, a loyal Federalist, noticed it resembled a salamander — or, as he put it, a “Gerry-mander.”

What does the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution address?

A) Creation of federal income tax B) Repeal of Prohibition

C) Right to trial by jury

D) Women’s right to vote

Answer: The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted women the right to vote.

Van Gogh mirrored night sky

Vincent van Gogh painted “The Starry Night” in June 1889 while residing in a mental asylum in the south of France. Astronomers and art historians have found that it replicates the position of stars and planets in the night sky at the time it was painted, including the bright planet Venus, “the Morning Star.” In his depiction of the moon, however, Van Gogh took artistic license. He made it a waning crescent when history shows it would have been in the waning gibbous phase.