Skip to content
GK24
Prime
General ScienceEasyAsked in: CDS · CDS-I 2020, GK

Who among the following scientists introduced the concept of immunization to the medical world?

  1. A.Edward Jenner
  2. B.Robert Koch
  3. C.Robert Hooke
  4. D.Carl Linnaeus

Correct answer

A. Edward Jenner

Explanation

The correct answer is A, Edward Jenner. The English physician showed in 1796 that deliberate inoculation could protect a person against smallpox.

Jenner noticed that milkmaids who had caught the mild disease cowpox did not get smallpox. In 1796 he took material from a cowpox sore and inoculated a boy, James Phipps, who later resisted smallpox. The word vaccine comes from the Latin vacca, meaning cow, and Jenner is called the father of immunology. His method spread across the world and, after a global campaign, the WHO declared smallpox eradicated in 1980.

B, Robert Koch, discovered the bacteria causing tuberculosis (1882) and cholera, and laid down Koch's postulates. C, Robert Hooke, first described and named the cell in 1665 in his book Micrographia. D, Carl Linnaeus, created the binomial system of naming living organisms.

Exam tip: Jenner = smallpox vaccine (1796); Pasteur = rabies vaccine; Koch = TB bacterium; Hooke = cell.

Practice Questions

View all
Q1.General ScienceAsked in: UPSC Civil Services · CSE Prelims 2022, GS Paper IMedium

Which of the following are nitrogen-fixing plants?

1. Alfalfa

2. Amaranth

3. Chickpea

4. Clover

5. Purslane (Kulfa)

6. Spinach

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

  1. A.1, 3 and 4 only
  2. B.1, 3, 5 and 6 only
  3. C.2, 4, 5 and 6 only
  4. D.1, 2, 4, 5 and 6
Show answer
Correct answer: A. 1, 3 and 4 only

Alfalfa, chickpea and clover are legumes, and legumes fix nitrogen. Plants of the legume family (Fabaceae) carry root nodules that house Rhizobium bacteria.

Q2.General ScienceAsked in: UPSC CAPF · CAPF 2017, Paper IMedium

The mass number of an element is NOT changed when it emits

  1. A.Alpha and Beta radiations only
  2. B.Alpha and Gamma radiations only
  3. C.Beta and Gamma radiations only
  4. D.Alpha, Beta and Gamma radiations
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Beta and Gamma radiations only

Neither beta nor gamma emission changes the total number of protons and neutrons in a nucleus, so the mass number stays the same.

Q3.General ScienceAsked in: UPSC CAPF · CAPF 2025, Paper IMedium

Which one among the following statements about facilitated transport in plants is correct?

  1. A.All passive transports are types of facilitated transport.
  2. B.Facilitated transport is an example of active transport.
  3. C.Water moves across plasma membrane by active transport.
  4. D.Facilitated transport requires assistance of carrier proteins.
Show answer
Correct answer: D. Facilitated transport requires assistance of carrier proteins.

In facilitated transport, molecules cross the membrane with the help of membrane proteins, while still moving down their concentration gradient.

Q4.General ScienceAsked in: UPSC CAPF · CAPF 2017, Paper IMedium

Who among the following has coined the term 'Quark', the fundamental particles that make up protons and neutrons in an atomic nucleus ?

  1. A.Richard Feynman
  2. B.Murray Gell-Mann
  3. C.Albert Einstein
  4. D.Niels Bohr
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Murray Gell-Mann

The American physicist Murray Gell-Mann proposed quarks in 1964 and gave them their name. Gell-Mann, and independently George Zweig, suggested that protons, neutrons and other such particles are built from smaller units.