HARVARD FALL TOURNAMENT 2006
ROUND EIGHT
TOSSUPS
1. After it was found near Fort St. Julian, it was the subject of a study by Silvestre de Sacy, who incorrectly
claimed to understand several of its proper nouns. Its elliptical cartouches indicating the names of rulers
were better understood by Thomas Young, whose ideas laid the groundwork for a scholar with knowledge
of Coptic, Jean-François Champollion, to recognize the unique hieratic and demotic forms and to identify
symbols that were phonetic as well as pictorial. Weighing 1,676 pounds despite missing pieces of three
corners, this is, FTP, what centerpiece of the British Museum carved in Greek and two kinds of Egyptian
hieroglyphics?
ANSWER: Rosetta Stone
2. A beta-N-glycosidic bond joins its one-prime carbon to a nitrogen, and its overall bond energy is -7.3
kilocalories per mole. Uncoupling agents such as dicumarol produce unsafe weight loss by allowing
electron transport to occur independently of this molecule, although the protein thermogenin uses the same
mechanism to conserve heat in mammals using brown fat. Rotenone and cyanide interfere with its
synthesis by inhibiting cytochromes, and its hydrolysis can be coupled with otherwise unfavorable
reactions such as the sliding of motor proteins. Repulsion among the four negative charges leads to
instability in, FTP, which molecule, a purine nucleoside synthesized in mitochondria and the primary
energy carrier in cells?
ANSWER: ATP (accept adenosine triphosphate)
3. He coined the term harijan as part of his campaign for social equality, but he is more famous for
advocating what he called swaraj, the total independence of his country. He supported World War I on the
grounds that he deserved full citizenship in the British Empire and should thus contribute to its defense, but
in 1918 he organized demonstrations in the state of Bihar against the British. He is famous for a 250-mile
march to the sea to collect salt in violation of imperial laws in what he called his “Salt Satyagraha,” and he
opposed the British in 1942 with his famous “Quit India” campaign. Assassinated in 1948 by a militant
Hindu, this is, FTP, what nonviolent leader of the Indian independence movement?
ANSWER: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (accept Mahatma Gandhi)
4. It surrounds the Tijuca Forest and boasts the 180,000-seat Maracanã Stadium, and its residents are called
Cariocas, a word that derives from the phrase “white man’s home.” Its Cagarras Islands in Guanabara Bay
are visible from the top of Corcovado Mountain, the site of the famous Statue of Christ the Redeemer, as
are sprawling favelas and the posh beach made famous by Vinicius de Morais, Ipanema. A more famous
mountain in this city, Sugarloaf, overlooks another famous beach, Copacabana. FTP, identify this populous
city in Brazil associated with its lavish Carnival.
ANSWER: Río de Janeiro
5. Winthrop, Alcorn State, and Texas Southern have lost it to Northwestern State, Siena, and UNCAsheville respectively. Within days, those victorious teams had in turn fallen to Illinois, Maryland, and
Texas. Not televised on CBS, it is instead usually aired on ESPN. Because it is played on a Tuesday when
no other games air and because it attracts special attention from professional scouts, most teams do not
mind playing in it. FTP, name this first game of the NCAA Division I Men’s College Basketball
Tournament in which in 2006 Monmouth won the right to lose to Villanova.
ANSWER: NCAA Opening Round (accept Play-in Game)
6. He was eighteen years old in 1460 when his father, Richard Plantagenet, was killed at the Battle of
Wakefield. Richard Neville had him declared king the following year, and he promptly scored a victory at
the Battle of Towton. He fled to France after Neville switched sides and restored the previous king, but he
returned to win victories at Barnet and Tewkesbury, after which Henry VI was murdered. FTP, name this
English king during the Wars of the Roses, the first king of the House of York and the brother of Richard
III.
ANSWER: Edward IV
7. She was responsible for the prophesy of Euphemus when she was leader of Libya. Her relatives by
blood include Circe, Helios, and King Aeetes, and she was linked to Aeson and Pelias by marriage. She
was betrayed by Creon, who turned the prince of Iolcus onto Glauce; in turn, this priestess of Hecate turned
to Aegeus, who protected her after she murdered her children and Glauce. FTP, identify this jealous,
vindictive woman from Greek mythology, the wife and aid to Jason, whose stories was famously told in an
eponymous drama by Euripides.
ANSWER: Medea
8. Its relativistic version, Ehrenfest’s Theorem, can be used to derive the Dirac equation by rewriting it as a
field equation. Tensor-Vector-Scalar is a recently proposed modification of it for small accelerations to
explain the galaxy rotation problem. For rotating systems, it relates the net torque on a system to its
moment of inertia and angular acceleration. Its more general version is the Impulse-Momentum Theorem,
meaning that the most commonly known version is actually an approximation in the case of constant mass.
FTP, name this law that was actually never stated by its namesake in its most popular form, F = ma.
ANSWER: Newton’s Second Law (accept F = ma before it is mentioned)
9. The oldest surviving example is “View from His Window at Gras” by Nicéphore Niépce, which took
eight hours to make in 1826. William Fox Henry Talbot simplified the process and introduced the first
paper ones, which were called calotypes and introduced in 1839. Julia Margaret Cameron, a famous
practitioner, created one called “Call, I follow; I follow; let me die” and she was the first to attempt to add
depth and sentiment through intentionally poor technique. After the 1850s, the invention of the albumen
printing process ensured that many could be created from a single negative. FTP, name this artform, called
“a mirror with a memory” by Matthew Brady.
ANSWER: photography (accept photographs; do not accept daguerrotype)
10. Kilij Arslan routed its advance guard at Nicaea, but he was later defeated by it. This mission was a
manifestation of the so-called “Peace Movement” of medieval Europe, which sought to quell internal strife
in Christendom and create unity. When it was first proclaimed, the assembled French peasants chanted,
“Dieu le veut!,” or “God wills it!” One year earlier, Pope Urban II had been contacted by Byzantine
Emperor Alexius Comnenus, who sought Western help in his wars against the Muslims. Alexius wanted
cash and maybe some knights, but instead he found a column of 100,000 armed peasants under the nominal
leadership of Peter the Hermit headed toward Constantinople. Though the peasants were routed, a bettertrained group of knights did succeed in capturing Jerusalem. FTP, identify this 1096 Catholic movement
aimed at reconquering the Holy Land.
ANSWER: First Crusade (prompt on crusade; accept People’s Crusade, Peasants’ Crusade, or
Paupers’ Crusade before the word “defeated,” but not after it)
11. The product of the three complex numbers (sloowwww down) four minus three i, one plus i, and four
minus three i is easy to find if we apply commutativity of the complex numbers and first multiply four
minus three i by four plus three i. These two are complex conjugatives, so their product is real. FTP, what
is the product of four minus three i, one plus i, and four minus three i?
ANSWER: 25 + 25 i
NOTE: (4+3i)(4-3i)=25
12. In 1991, his New York home was demolished to make way for the Beth Israel Medical Center, over the
protests of such notables as Vaclav Havel. He wrote several operas, of which only Rusalka is performed
today, but more famous are his symphonies, of which only five were known to the general public during his
lifetime. His first symphony, lost even to him, was later given the title “The Bells of Zlonice,” supposedly
his own nickname for it and a reference to where he spent two years of childhood. He was better known
for a Cello Concerto in B minor, two sets of Slavonic Dances, and nine symphonies. FTP, identify this
Czech composer whose ninth and final symphony, written during his stay in New York, was nicknamed
“From the New World.”
ANSWER: Antonin Leopold Dvorak
13. Reverend Harris led prayers here at two famous flag raisings, though the second one came nearly two
months after the location was resecured. That reconquest began with a failed assault by nine ironclads and,
although the building’s brick walls were destroyed, its defenders used slave labor to shore up the defenses
with bales of hay. Its military importance stemmed from the fact that it was a hole in the naval blockade,
but its psychological importance was related to the importance of the earlier battle there, of which Mary
Chestnut wrote a famous account. That battle saw baseball pioneer Captain Abner Doubleday act as
second in command to Major Robert Anderson. General P. T. Beauregard led the assault on, FTP, what
fort in Charleston Harbor whose bombardment marked the beginning of the US Civil War?
ANSWER: Fort Sumter
14. This geometry is responsible for the existence of enantiomers, or optical isomers, in which mirrorimage arrangements of groups bonded to a central atom cannot be superimposed on each other. Chlorine in
perchlorate and the alpha carbons of amino acids exhibit this geometry, which according to the VSEPR
[VES-PER] model, provides a maximum angle of bond separation, 109.5°. Better known examples include
most silicon compounds, sulfate, phosphate, and methane. FTP, identify this molecular geometry
commonly associated with carbon and synonymous with a simple Platonic solid of four sides.
ANSWER: tetrahedral molecular geometry (accept tetrahedron)
15. Apollo, who condoned and in fact commanded violent actions prior to this play, sends the main
character to Athens under the protection of the god Hermes while keeping the title characters asleep. When
they wake up, they hum an eerie tune and sniff for the blood of the victim of the main character, and
eventually track him in a distant city by its scent. The ghost of Clytemnestra has been exacting revenge
through the title characters, who torment and curse her son because he committed matricide. The title
figures surround the main character and argue for his conviction at a trial on the Areopagos adjudicated by
the goddess Athena. FTP, name this play, the final part of the Oresteia.
ANSWER: The Eumenides
16. This theatrical style was first developed around 1603, was influenced by kyogen comic theater, and had
a golden age during the 1690s. While its popularity declined in the mid-1700s, it experienced a resurgence
during the Meiji Restoration. Several important elements of this genre include the hanamichi, a projection
extending into the audience and used for entrances and exits, and sophisticated stage tricks such as trap
doors and revolving stages. Actors traditionally strike a dramatic pose called a mie to define their
character, but the most prominent part of this genre, whose name literally means “art of singing and
dancing,” is the keshō, or elaborate makeup. FTP, name this stylized form of traditional Japanese theater.
ANSWER: kabuki
17. Odd-even sort is a variant on this sorting algorithm used in message passing systems, and cocktail sort
and comb sort are both improvements on it. Some large elements at the far end of a list quickly move
downward and are referred to as “rabbits,” while small elements at the opposite end may take a long time to
move up and are called “turtles.” FTP, name this big oh of n squared sorting algorithm, in which out-oforder consecutive elements are repeatedly swapped.
ANSWER: bubble sort (accept exchange sort)
18. The Hamiltons are the “Universal Family,” while the Trasks are the “Universal Neighbors.” Cyrus
Trask is a Civil War veteran who tells tall tales about his exploits to make himself appear brave. Cathy
Ames, later Kate Albey, is a madam who eventually commits suicide. Samuel Hamilton is the kind
patriarch of an Irish-American family that lives near the Trasks. Over the course of several generations,
characters whose names begin with the letter C oppose those whose names begin with A, in reference to a
biblical story. The title refers to the land of Nod, where God sent Cain after he killed Abel. FTP, name this
novel about life in the Salinas Valley by John Steinbeck.
ANSWER: East of Eden
19. One of the first German members of this philosophical movement, Karl Jaspers, expressed its key
arguments in terms of “transcendence” and “encompassing,” and it is related to, but distinct from,
postmodernism. Literary works influenced by this school include Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Notes from the
Underground and Hermann Hesse’s Steppenwolf, the latter of which is based on a seminal 1843 work in
this movement, Either/Or. Focusing on such topics as anxiety and awareness of death, this philosophy
rejects rationalism and argues that human fulfillment in an indifferent world depends on action and
decision. FTP, name this philosophical movement inspired by Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard and
propounded in the 1943 treatise Being and Nothingness by Jean-Paul Sartre.
ANSWER: existentialism
20. Edward Morel used a play on its title for a 1903 article, and Henry Labouchère published a tongue-incheek response to it, satirically urging “then in the name of freedom, / don’t hesitate to shoot.” Labouchère
changed its famous wording to “go make from them your living, / and mark them with his dead” and noted
that “’tis useless to be mild / with new-caught, sullen peoples, / half devil and half child.” The original,
first published in McClure’s in 1899, is generally interpreted as support for the American conquest of the
Philippines. FTP, identify this imperialistic poem in which Rudyard Kipling urged his American audience
to “send forth the best ye breed.”
ANSWER: “The White Man’s Burden”
BONUSES
1. Answer the following questions about James Fenimore Cooper, FTPE:
(10) Cooper lent his name to this town, now best known as the home of Major League Baseball’s Hall of
Fame.
ANSWER: Cooperstown
Cooper is best known for creating this frontiersman whose names include Pathfinder, Deerslayer, and
Hawkeye.
ANSWER: Natty Bumppo (accept either name)
(10) Natty Bumppo was featured in this series of novels, which included The Last of the Mohicans and The
Prairie.
ANSWER: Leatherstocking Tales
2. Given quotes from a French king, name the king, FTPE:
(10) This king was uncannily prophetic when he predicted, “After me, the deluge.”
ANSWER: Louis XV
(10) This king justified his flip-flopping on religion with “Paris is worth a mass.”
ANSWER: Henry IV
(10) This king’s arrogance is perhaps best personified by his declaration, “The state is me.”
ANSWER: Louis XIV
3. Identify the following rock classifications, FTPE:
(10) Fine-grained igneous rocks that have cooled quickly are known as this.
ANSWER: Extrusive (accept aphanitic)
(10) It refers to sedimentary rocks composed of existing fragments or fossils; examples include
conglomerates and breccias.
ANSWER: Clastic
(10) In contrast to felsic rocks, these types have high iron and magnesium content, such as basalt.
ANSWER: Mafic
4. Given a polyatomic ion, identify its molecular formula for ten points each –
(10) Sulfate.
ANSWER: SO4 2(10) Sulfite.
ANSWER: SO3 2(10) Carbonate.
ANSWER: CO3 25. How much do you know about objectivist literature? Answer these questions about an author and their
works, FTPE:
(10) Born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum, this author moved to America and changed her name in the
1920s, first working as an extra in Cecil B. DeMille’s film “King of Kings.”
ANSWER: Ayn Rand
(10) Rand’s last work of fiction, she considered this her magnum opus at over 1,000 pages in length. It
follows the lives of Dagny Taggart and Hank Rearden.
ANSWER: Atlas Shrugged
(10) Equality 7-2521, this novel’s protagonist, is reprimanded for being too smart and too tall, and later he
runs away to the Uncharted Forest, where he is joined by the Golden One.
ANSWER: Anthem
6. Answer the following questions about Nanjing for ten points each —
(10) In 1864, Nanjing was the location of what was once the world’s bloodiest battle, in which this Chinese
Christian rebellion was put down.
ANSWER: Taiping Rebellion
(10) In 1937 and 1938, Nanjing was the site of a famous “Rape” after falling to the army of what Asian
empire?
ANSWER: Japan
(10) In 1912, this Chinese democratic leader made Nanjing the capital of the Republic of China.
ANSWER: Sun Yat-Sen
7. Name these numbers with something in common, FTPE:
(10) It is usually defined as the limit as n approaches infinity of 1 plus 1 over n, quantity raised to the nth
power.
ANSWER: e (accept Euler’s number)
(10) It can be calculated using Gregory’s series and several series by Euler. Archimedes obtained an
approximation using regular polygons.
ANSWER: pi
(10) E and pi belong to this class of numbers, defined as real numbers that cannot be solutions to
polynomial equations.
ANSWER: transcendental numbers
8. Name these Supreme Court cases whose decisions were delivered by John Marshall, FTPE:
(10) This represented the first instance the Supreme Court ruled a state law unconstitutional. It involved the
Georgia legislature’s sale of land in Yazoo River country.
ANSWER: Fletcher v. Peck
(10) This ruling on the sovereignty of the Cherokee Nation supposedly prompted Andrew Jackson to
declare, “John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!”
ANSWER: Worcester v. Georgia
(10) Marshall ruled that the power to regulate interstate commerce rested with Congress in this case, which
arose after New York granted monopolies to steamboat companies operating between New Jersey and New
York.
ANSWER: Gibbons v. Ogden
9. Name these SI units in physics, FTPE:
(10) This unit of capacitance is defined as a coulomb per volt.
ANSWER: Farad (do not accept “Faraday”)
(10) This unit of power is defined as a joule per second.
ANSWER: Watt
(10) This unit of inductance is defined as a weber per ampere.
ANSWER: Henry
10. Given a composer, name how many numbered symphonies he wrote, FTPE. For example, although
Mahler wrote 11 symphonies, one of them is not numbered and his last was Symphony No. 10—so you
would say “10.”
(10) Tchaikovsky
ANSWER: 6
(10) Mozart
ANSWER: 41
(10) Haydn
ANSWER: 104
11. Given quotes from a French king, name the king, FTPE:
(10) This king was uncannily prophetic when he predicted, “After me, the deluge.”
ANSWER: Louis XV
(10) This king justified his flip-flopping on religion with “Paris is worth a mass.”
ANSWER: Henry IV
(10) This king’s arrogance is perhaps best personified by his declaration, “The state is me.”
ANSWER: Louis XIV
12. Identify the largest lakes on these continents for ten points each —
(10) The largest lake on South America is this oil-rich Venezuelan lake.
ANSWER: Lake Maracaibo
(10) The largest lake in Australia is this salty lake in the deserts of South Australia.
ANSWER: Lake Eyre
(10) The largest lake entirely in Europe is this Russian lake near St. Petersburg.
ANSWER: Lake Ladoga
13. Answer these questions about a British author FTPE:
(10) Name the Irish writer whose works include the 1766 novel The Vicar of Wakefield and the 1770 poem
The Deserted Village.
ANSWER: Oliver Goldsmith
(10) Goldsmith’s dramatic masterpiece is this 1773 comedy in which the anxious Charles Marlow is forced
to consider a potential bride he has never met.
ANSWER: She Stoops to Conquer
(10) Goldsmith earned his bachelor’s degree in 1749 from this Dublin university, the oldest in Ireland.
ANSWER: Trinity College
14. FTPE, name these enzymes affiliated with the replication fork in DNA synthesis.
(10) This specialized RNA polymerase initiates a new DNA strand by annealing a 5 to 10 nucleotide chain
to the DNA template.
ANSWER: primase
(10) Primarily contacting DNA through electrostatic and base-stacking interactions, these proteins stabilize
single-stranded DNA by coating it as it is unwound by helicase.
ANSWER: single-stranded binding proteins or SSBs
(10) The positive supercoils produced by unwound DNA are removed by these enzymes, which act just
ahead of the replication fork.
ANSWER: topoisomerase
15. Name the following about current events on the Korean Peninsula:
(10) This current minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of South Korea is slated to succeed Kofi Annan as
the Secretary-General of the United Nations on January 1, 2007.
ANSWER: Ban Ki-Moon
(10) Since 2006, however, Ki-Moon’s country of origin has been pressured by North Korea via tests of this
model of missile which is allegedly able to hit Alaska.
ANSWER: Taepo Dong-2
(10) On October 9, 2006, the missile tests culminated in an alleged controlled nuclear detonation near this
city in North Hamgyong province on the northeastern coast of Korea.
ANSWER: Kilchu
16. Name these writers with something in common, FTPE:
(10) This Provençal poet shared the Nobel Prize in 1904 and is best remembered for narrative poems such
as Mireio. He shares his name with the cold southwesterly wind along France’s Mediterranean coast.
ANSWER: Frederic Mistral
(10) This Italian writer’s novels include The Child of Pleasure, The Triumph of Death, and The Virgin of
the Rocks. His views are often considered a precursor to Fascism.
ANSWER: Gabriele D’Annunzio
(10) The Chilean poet Lucila Godoy Alcayaga took her pseudonym from her favorite poets: Mistral and
D’Annunzio. She won the Nobel Prize in 1945.
ANSWER: Gabriela Mistral
17. Name these people important in the life of King David, FTPE:
(10) King David fell in love with this wife of Uriah when he saw her while walking on the roof of his
palace.
ANSWER: Bathsheba
(10) David ordered this trusted general to send Uriah on a suicide mission. This general fell out of favor
with David when he ordered his men to kill Absalom.
ANSWER: Joab
(10) After David married Bathsheba, this prophet visited the couple and announced that their firstborn son
would die in infancy due to David’s wickedness.
ANSWER: Nathan
18. FTPE, given a quote by a famous American naval hero, name the hero:
(10) "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!"
ANSWER: David Farragut
(10) "I have not yet begun to fight."
ANSWER: Jean Paul Jones
(10) "Don't give up the ship!"
ANSWER: James Lawrence
19. Optical telescopes are further subdivided into different types. Identify the following FTPE:
(10) This earliest kind of telescope uses a lens for the objective. A famous example was the one Galileo
used to observe the moons of Jupiter.
ANSWER: refracting telescope
(10) Modern research telescopes are of this type, which features a mirror for the objective.
ANSWER: reflecting telescope
(10) Light is focused through a central hole in the concave primary mirror of this telescope, which also
includes a hyperbolic convex secondary mirror.
ANSWER: Cassegrainian telescope
20. Identify these progeny of Priam and Hecuba FTPE:
(10) This “tamer of horses” was slain by Achilles as revenge for Patroclus’s death.
ANSWER: Hector
(10) After jilting Apollo, she became plagued by true prophecies that no one would believe.
ANSWER: Cassandra
(10) This twin of Cassandra was also a prophet, although people actually believed his predictions.
Following the fall of Troy, he moved to Mt. Ida with his wife Deidamia.
ANSWER: Helenus