Will You Pass Thomas Edison's Intelligence Test?
Thomas Edison

One of the most criticized aspects of any job interview is the group of absurd questions that the employer decides to ask to evaluate… who knows what. But this is not exclusive to modern technology companies. In 1921, Thomas Edison himself revealed a questionnaire intended for graduate students who wanted to work at his plant. The "nightmare" has more than 140 questions. Do you think you can answer them?

The questions began to leak in May 1921, and to be honest, they were a real sensation among the press at that time. "The Wizard of Menlo Park" was already 74 years old, and while some saw his questionnaire as a definitive test of intelligence, others quickly emerged who declared it impossible to answer all the questions, since only "a walking encyclopedia" could do it. Personally, I lean toward the second interpretation.

If a person sought a position at the plant that Thomas Edison owned in West Orange, they probably expected questions related to physics, chemistry, electronics, mathematics, and/or engineering, but knowing which is the highest quality cotton borders on the ridiculous. As the questions and answers became better known, the test adjusted its content, and in total 146 different questions are known. Do you think you have what it takes? Don't hesitate, but remember: You must answer as if you were in 1921. For example: The states of the Union were 48 in 1921, but now they are 50. Good luck!

Thomas Edison's Questionnaire

  1. What countries share a border with France?
  2. What city and country produces the finest Chinese porcelain?
  3. Where is the Volga River located?
  4. What is the best cultivated cotton?
  5. What country consumed the most tea before the war?
  6. What city in the United States is the leader in the manufacture of washing machines?
  7. What is the "fur center" of the United States?
  8. What country is the largest textile producer?
  9. Is Australia larger than Greenland in area?
  10. Where is Copenhagen located?
  11. Where is Spitsbergen located?
  12. In what country besides Australia can kangaroos be found?
  13. What is the largest telescope in the world?
  14. Who was Bessemer, and what did he do?
  15. How many states are in the Union?
  16. Where do we get prunes?
  17. Who was Paul Revere?
  18. Who was John Hancock?
  19. Who was Plutarch?
  20. Who was Hannibal?
  21. Who was Danton?
  22. Who was Solon?
  23. Who was Francis Marion?
  24. Who was Leonidas?
  25. From whom did we obtain Louisiana?
  26. Who was Pizarro?
  27. Who was Bolívar?
  28. What material did Chile export to the Allies during the war?
  29. Where does most coffee come from?
  30. Where is Korea?
  31. Where is Manchuria?
  32. Where was Napoleon born?
  33. What is the highest tide rise on the North American coast?
  34. Who invented logarithms?
  35. Who was the emperor of Mexico when Cortés arrived?
  36. Where is the Imperial Valley, and why is it known?
  37. What is and where is the Sargasso Sea?
  38. What is the greatest known depth in the ocean?
  39. What is the name of a large inland body of water that has no outlet?
  40. What is the capital of Pennsylvania?
  41. What is the largest state? And the next largest?
  42. Rhode Island is the smallest state. What are the next two?
  43. How far is New York from Buffalo?
  44. How far is New York from San Francisco?
  45. How far is New York from Liverpool?
  46. What state has Helena as its capital?
  47. What state has Tallahassee as its capital?
  48. What state has the largest copper mines?
  49. What state has the largest amethyst mines?
  50. What is the name of a famous violin maker?
  51. Who invented the modern paper-making machine?
  52. Who invented the type-setting machine?
  53. Who invented the printing press?
  54. How is leather tanned?
  55. What is artificial silk made of?
  56. What is a "caisson"?
  57. What is "shellac"?
  58. What is celluloid made of?
  59. What causes tides?
  60. What causes the change of seasons?
  61. What is coke?
  62. From what part of the North Atlantic do we get cod?
  63. Who reached the South Pole?
  64. What is a monsoon?
  65. Where is Magdalena Bay?
  66. From what place do we import figs?
  67. From what place do we get dates?
  68. Where do we get our domestic sardines?
  69. What is the longest railroad in the world?
  70. Where is Kenosha?
  71. What is the speed of sound?
  72. What is the speed of light?
  73. Who was Cleopatra, and how did she die?
  74. Where are condors found?
  75. Who discovered the law of gravity?
  76. What is the distance between the Earth and the Sun?
  77. Who invented photography?
  78. What country produces the most wool?
  79. What is felt?
  80. What cereal is used everywhere in the world?
  81. What states produce phosphates?
  82. Why is cast iron called "pig iron"?
  83. Name three main acids.
  84. Name three powerful poisons.
  85. Who discovered radium?
  86. Who discovered X-rays?
  87. Name three main bases (alkalis).
  88. From what part of Germany do toys come?
  89. What states share a border with West Virginia?
  90. Where do we get peanuts?
  91. What is the capital of Alabama?
  92. Who composed "Il Trovatore"?
  93. What is the weight of air in a room 20 by 30 by 10 feet?
  94. Where is platinum found?
  95. With what metal is platinum associated (alloyed) once found?
  96. How is sulfuric acid prepared?
  97. Where do we get sulfur?
  98. Who discovered the vulcanization of rubber?
  99. Where do we import rubber from?
  100. What is vulcanite and how is it made?
  101. Who invented the cotton gin?
  102. What is the price of 12 grains of gold?
  103. What is the difference between anthracite and bituminous coal?
  104. Where do we get benzol (benzene-toluene)?
  105. What is glass made of?
  106. How is window glass made?
  107. What is porcelain?
  108. What country makes the best optical lenses, and in what city?
  109. What type of machine is used to cut the facets of a diamond?
  110. What is the foot-pound?
  111. Where do we get borax?
  112. Where is the Aswan Dam?
  113. What recently measured star has shown to be enormous in size?
  114. What great river of the United States flows from south to north?
  115. What is the Strait of Messina?
  116. What is the highest mountain in the world?
  117. Where do we import cork from?
  118. Where is the St. Gotthard Pass?
  119. What is the Taj Mahal?
  120. Where is Labrador (peninsula)?
  121. Who wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner"?
  122. Who wrote "Home, Sweet Home"?
  123. Who was Martin Luther?
  124. What is the main acid in vinegar?
  125. Who wrote "Don Quijote de la Mancha"?
  126. Who wrote "Les Misérables"?
  127. What place has the greatest distance below sea level (on land)?
  128. What wood are axe handles made of?
  129. Who made "The Thinker"?
  130. Why is the Fahrenheit thermometer so called?
  131. Who was the owner and manager of the New York Herald for a long time?
  132. What is copra?
  133. What insect transmits malaria?
  134. Who discovered the Pacific Ocean?
  135. What country has the largest production of nickel in the world?
  136. What ingredients are present in the best white paint?
  137. What is glucose and how is it made?
  138. In what part of the world does it never rain?
  139. What was the approximate population of England, France, Germany, and Russia before the war?
  140. Where is Mecca located?
  141. Where do we get quicksilver (mercury)?
  142. What are violin strings made of?
  143. What city in the Atlantic is the largest center of ceramics (pottery)?
  144. Who is called "the father of the railroads" in the United States?
  145. What is the heaviest wood?
  146. What is the lightest wood?

Editor's note: Several of the questions had typographical and/or spelling errors, or were too ambiguous in their original formulation.