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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. One of the most renowned transit expeditions was launched by the Royal Society in August 1768 on what ship?
(a) The HMS Endeavour.
(b) The USS Explorer.
(c) The HMS Explorer.
(d) The Beagle.

2. Newton's interest turned to the skies and he saw the need for a telescope that improved upon Galileo's what?
(a) Refractor telescope.
(b) Quantum telescope.
(c) Lens telescope.
(d) Mirror telescope.

3. Who accused Copernicus of thinking he was superior to God?
(a) John Calvin.
(b) Marco Polo.
(c) Pontius Pilate.
(d) Martin Luther.

4. Aristotle declared that a body in rest tended to do what?
(a) Dissipate.
(b) Grow moss.
(c) Start moving.
(d) Stay at rest.

5. When was Edmond Halley born?
(a) 1666.
(b) 1717.
(c) 1656.
(d) 1698.

6. Aristotle created a model of the universe based on whose work?
(a) Claudius Ptolemy's.
(b) Andromache's.
(c) Eudoxus'.
(d) Jean Richer's.

7. The last great Western scientist before the Dark Ages was whom, according to the author?
(a) Ancius Boethius.
(b) Prince Henry the Navigator.
(c) Archimedes.
(d) Marco Polo.

8. What is the resistance of any physical object to a change in its state of motion or rest, or the tendency of an object to resist any change in its motion?
(a) Quantum mechanics.
(b) Asceticism.
(c) Inertia.
(d) Quantum flux.

9. Giovanni Cassini studied data by what astronomer who observed Mars at its closest passage to earth and determined, a value of 87 million miles for the astronomical unit?
(a) Marco Polo.
(b) John Harrison.
(c) Plato.
(d) Jean Richer.

10. Copernicus studied the great astronomers, and particularly admired whom?
(a) Archimedes.
(b) Claudius Ptolemy.
(c) Aristarchus.
(d) Aristotle.

11. Practical reasons for learning about the stars and their movement included what in ancient times, according to the author in Chapter 1: "The Dome of Heaven"?
(a) Timekeeping and navigation.
(b) Determining religious history.
(c) Estimating the population.
(d) Predicting the future.

12. When was Aristotle born?
(a) 385 B.C.
(b) 330 B.C.
(c) 384 B.C.
(d) 410 B.C.

13. What Arabic secret society published tables of planetary distances that had been calculated by Aristarchus?
(a) The Brothers of Peace.
(b) The Arabic Society.
(c) The Scientific Mathematics.
(d) The Brethren of Purity.

14. Where was Christopher Columbus from?
(a) France.
(b) Italy.
(c) Germany.
(d) England.

15. Who sentenced Jesus Christ to death?
(a) Pontius Pilate.
(b) Archimedes.
(c) Aristarchus.
(d) Judas.

Short Answer Questions

1. When did Venetian Alvise da Cadamosto discover the Southern Cross?

2. Copernicus and Kepler measured the distances of the solar system which were expressed in what?

3. Approximately when was Eudoxus of Cnidus born?

4. In trigonometry and geometry, what is the process of determining the location of a point by measuring angles to it from known points at either end of a fixed baseline, rather than measuring distances to the point directly?

5. What is the study and practice of making maps?

(see the answer keys)

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