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IBM Quiz: Test Your Big Blue Smarts

By Dennis McCafferty on 2011-07-05


IBM is celebrating its centennial this year. That’s right: Big Blue was founded 100 years ago , and its history tells the story of a company that has remained on the leading edge when it comes to computer systems, hardware, software, IT consulting and other tech niches. IBM has won multiple Nobel Prizes, and holds more patents than any other U.S.-based technology company. (IBM actually invented the ATM.) And, if you believe one popular urban legend, IBM's supercomputers served as inspiration for Hal, the computer in "2001: A Space Odyssey." In the book "Making the World Work Better: The Ideas That Shaped a Century and a Company"(IBM Press/Pearson/available now) authors Kevin Maney, Steve Hamm and Jeffrey M. O’Brien chronicle IBM’s impact on the state of global technology, focusing on the company’s ability to anticipate change and constantly transform. So, how up-to-speed are you on IBM-related trivia? Test your smarts with this quiz, based on information contained in the book. As always, no help from Google allowed:

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When the company was formed in 1911, what was its name?

A. International Business MachinesB. Computing Tabulating and Recording CompanyC. Business Computing Machinery CompanyD. Recording Machinery and Computing

AnswerB. Computing Tabulating and Recording Company.

This name was the result of a merger of four companies in 1911. In 1924, it switched to IBM, which was the name of a subsidiary.

What was IBM’s first product?

A. Meat grindersB. Cheese slicersC. ClocksD. All of the above

Answer

D. Punched card machines shortly followed these, as the company evolved into a data capture/analytics giant.

What is the company’s iconic slogan?

A. FORWARDB. BELIEVEC. BIG BLUED. THINK

AnswerD. THINK.

IBM icon Thomas Watson Jr. actually came up with the idea of using "Think" as a slogan when he was the head of sales at National Cash Register Co. in Dayton, Ohio.

IBM invented each of the following technologies, except for which one?

A. RAMAC, the first magnetic hard disc driveB. Floppy diskC. Personal computerD. Fortran, the first true high-level programming language

AnswerC. Personal computer.

When the IBM PC was introduced in the early 1980s, it cost $1,565, included a keyboard and monitor.

IBM researchers have won Nobel Prizes in which of the following categories?

A. LiteratureB. EconomicsC. PhysicsD. Chemistry

Answer: B (Economics) and C (Physics).

IBM researchers have won a total of five Nobel Prizes—one in economics and four in physics.

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