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Influential Women in History

Some of the most influential women in history, including a few more challenging ones...
Quiz by Lilylee
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Last updated: August 15, 2016
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First submittedAugust 13, 2016
Times taken28,495
Average score56.0%
Rating4.37
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"The Virgin Queen" of England
Elizabeth I
First deaf-blind person to earn a bachelor of arts degree
Helen Keller
Founder of modern nursing
Florence Nightingale
French fashion designer who liberated women from the "corseted silhouette"
Coco Chanel
Child actress who later in her life worked as a United States Ambassador
Shirley Temple
The second longest reigning British monarch
Queen Victoria
Last active pharaoh of the Ptolemaic Egypt
Cleopatra
Aviation pioneer who was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic
Amelia Earhart
Diarist who is one of the most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust
Anne Frank
Actress who later became the Princess of Monaco
Grace Kelly
Celtic queen who lead an uprising against the Roman Emipre
Boudica
Empress who revitalized Russia under her reign, making it one of Europe's great powers
Catherine the Great
Roman Catholic nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata
Mother Teresa
Austrian-born Queen of France who met her end by guillotine in 1793
Marie Antoinette
She was awarded the title of "Spiritual Leader of the Nation" by the Argentine Congress
Eva Peron
Actress who won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony award. Later on, she won the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.
Audrey Hepburn
Spanish queen who reorganized the governmental system, lowered the crime rate, and supported the financing of Christopher Columbus' voyage in 1492
Isabella I of Castile
"Lovable" actress who was the first woman to run a major television studio
Lucille Ball
An actress and an inventor who came up with the frequency hopping technology which is the basis for GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth.
Hedy Lamarr
Widely regarded as the first computer programmer
Ada Lovelace
"The Maid of Orléans"
Joan of Arc
Chinese first lady who rallied her people against the Japanese invasion and conducted a 1942 speaking tour of the United States
Soong Mei-Ling
First woman to have flown in space
Valentina Tereshkova
First woman to win a Nobel Prize and the first person to win it twice
Marie Curie
Powerful Byzantine empress 527-548
Theodora
hwes
+1
Level 85
Aug 13, 2016
Good work. Here's my Women who Changed the World quiz. http://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/42254/women-who-changed-the-world
sillie
+3
Level 77
Aug 13, 2016
I knew about Hedy, but couldn't remember her name. A shame. I think there was a movie (or at least a documentary) about it all.
bakainu
+7
Level 67
Feb 6, 2017
It's Hedley!
ander217
+6
Level 75
Nov 29, 2018
Though I wouldn't call Blazing Saddles a documentary. :)
martay
+1
Level 70
Mar 8, 2022
PBS has a great documentary on her (available through 04/22):

Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story

Lilylee
+1
Level 74
Aug 13, 2016
Thank you QM for the beautiful editing!
Quizmaster
+1
Level ∞
Aug 14, 2016
Thanks! I didn't do much except for make things shorter.
plattitude
+1
Level 92
Aug 15, 2016
Pleasantly challenging. Could you consider accepting Evita, and some leniency on Florence's last name (like Nightengale), had to look up how to spell it.
Lilylee
+1
Level 74
Aug 15, 2016
Looks like Quizmaster has has edited the quiz quite a bit so I'm afraid to touch it anymore. I'm sure I had Evita there though, it's so obvious.
Quizmaster
+1
Level ∞
Aug 15, 2016
Evita and Nightengale will work now. Feel free to make any edits you want @Lilylee.
DonTheLamplighter
+1
Level 84
Sep 5, 2016
Yep, this was a great quiz. Missed 5, but proud I got the statistically most difficult one, Valentina Tereshkova. Don't know why her name has always stuck with me.
JBrommit
+2
Level 62
Sep 5, 2016
Argh, I'd heard of Hedy Lamar and her inventionh of frequency-hopping, but I could NOT remember her name! Got most of the others though.
helenap13
+4
Level 65
Sep 5, 2016
I know her wiki page lists her as Ada Lovelace, but that wasn't her name.

She was born Ada Byron and later married William King. So her name was Ada King. Later, William King became the Earl of Lovelace, making their titles the Earl and Countess of Lovelace, called Lord and Lady Lovelace, but that was just a title. The surname of the family does not change with the acquisition of a title. That would be like saying that Mr Obama's last name is United States of America.

Common usage lets her be Ada Lovelace, but please accept Ada King or Ada Byron because at least the kids that went to school with me remember her as Ada Byron.

IsleAuHaulte
+3
Level 89
Oct 23, 2019
I thought her name was Linda.
cqcrt
+1
Level 74
Sep 5, 2016
Could you accept Boudika please
kalbahamut
+3
Level 82
Sep 5, 2016
Excellent quiz. Some suggestions for a sequel:

Sanger (often doesn't get the recognition she deserves, i.e. with Pincus showing up on the important people in history quiz while she got snubbed), Hatshepsut (so much more important than Cleopatra), CiXi, Tubman, Parks, Bhutto, Gandhi, Thatcher, Clinton, Merkel, Potter, Austen, Nefertiti, Aisha (wife of Muhammad), Fatima, Khadija, Helena (mother of Constantine), Norsigian, Pocahontas, Sacajewea, Marcos, Rowling, Madonna, etc.

Lilylee
+2
Level 74
Sep 5, 2016
Glad you liked it. I tried to choose a healthy mix of almost giveaways and then some harder ones. I was thinking of Hatshepshut but chose the more obvious Cleopatra. Parks I didn't dare to include because of Claudette Colvin. Also I wanted to go a bit further in history so I didn't include any women of today, but there will be a sequel for sure.
ander217
+2
Level 75
Sep 8, 2016
Margaret Mead would be another good addition.
Thorvald
+1
Level 69
Sep 5, 2016
Ekhem, the correct name is Maria Skłodowska-Curie. She never renounced her maiden name (check the Nobel Prize diploma: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dyplom_Sklodowska-Curie.jpg )
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
Sep 5, 2016
Of those currently under 20% I only got Theodora. *Really* interesting character. Worth knowing about. I saw Tereshkova's pictures while visiting the Space Museum in Moscow recently but couldn't recall her name.
Zefyrinus
+3
Level 71
Sep 5, 2016
Thank you Civilization!
BiggieSmalls
+3
Level 73
Sep 5, 2016
Why is Black not accepted for Shirley Temple? Her legal name was Shirley Temple Black
courthousedoc
+2
Level 77
Sep 5, 2016
Agreed. Black needs to be acceptable as well.
ander217
+1
Level 75
Sep 8, 2016
+1. I tried Black first, but Temple was the next obvious choice.
IsleAuHaulte
+6
Level 89
Oct 23, 2019
Really? She's known more to you as Mrs. Black than Shirley Temple? Bull.
Jayjaysciz
+1
Level 55
Mar 8, 2022
Well I'm too young to have seen her movies.Even though I've heard of the actress and realize she's still extremely wellknown. However growing up whenever I read something about her they'd refer to her as Shirley Temple Black. So in my head that's her name Shirley Temple Black So of course I automatically thought of that and typed in Black.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
Sep 26, 2019
You know what they say. Once you go Black, you stop using your maiden name.
wielblad
+1
Level 66
May 18, 2020
The bigger but similar question is why Sklodowska (or even Sklodowska Curie) is not accepted for the Nobel winner. She is known by that surname in her native country and she herself used it to sign after her marriage.
Elan
+6
Level 65
Sep 5, 2016
Sequel idea for this quiz: Influential Men in History
Almariel
+1
Level 59
Sep 6, 2016
Small typo: "Roman Emipre"

Great quiz!

Lilylee
+3
Level 74
Sep 6, 2016
Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. One should remember that Mother Teresa's was real name was Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu. Catherine the Great was born Sophie Friederike Auguste and was also known as Yekaterina Velikaya, Yekaterina Alekseyevna and Catherine II. Marie Antoinette was born Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna von Habsburg-Lothringen. Cleopatra was officially Cleopatra VII Philopator. Audrey Hepburn was actually Hepburn-Ruston and Eva Peron was María Eva Duarte de Perón.
InfiniteInsanity999
+1
Level 42
Sep 7, 2016
Didn't do as great as I thought I would... buuut I HAD thought of Isabella I, I just couldn't remember her name
mikeyp
+2
Level 60
Sep 7, 2016
You can update her to "Saint Teresa" now.
McLerristarr
+2
Level 62
Sep 9, 2016
She's commonly known as "Mother Teresa", so she should either be down as that or by her real name. She's only a saint to anyone who recognises the authority of the Roman Catholic Church.
martay
+3
Level 70
Mar 8, 2022
So, 1.3+ billion people or just under 1 in every 5 people on the planet? Gotcha.
McLerristarr
+3
Level 62
Sep 9, 2016
Never heard of the Chinese woman (and statistics show that not many others have either), but I'm surprised more people haven't got it like I did: guessing a random common Chinese surname - Chang - which counts for some reason.
Lilylee
+3
Level 74
Sep 9, 2016
It should be Chiang as in Madame Chiang or Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, but seems Quizmaster has edited this quiz a little to also allow Chang.
IsleAuHaulte
+1
Level 89
Oct 23, 2019
Yeah, it makes no sense. She was famous in her time as Madame Chang, not whatever that other previous life name is.
HectorVortac
+1
Level 48
Sep 9, 2016
Two things help me remember Hedy Lamar: 1) Blazing Saddles, of course, and 2) she actually babysat a friend of mine 40 years ago.
IsleAuHaulte
+1
Level 89
Oct 23, 2019
I pray he called her Hedley.
AustrianGeography
+1
Level 37
Nov 7, 2016
Great quiz but where's Maria Theresa, she made Asutria a huge Nation and she invented School!
jajaco2017
+1
Level 57
Jan 18, 2017
got 20
Swanbabe
+3
Level 38
Aug 1, 2017
Man Ada Lovelace was awesome. Doesn't get nearly enough accolades.

And she was Lord Byron's daughter. There you go.

ingriddurden
+1
Level 60
Aug 26, 2017
Tereschkova not allowed ? just trying. Very difficult if your first language is not English
IsleAuHaulte
+3
Level 89
Oct 23, 2019
Then learn the English version. You're conversing in English. When I take German, Spanish and French quizzes and can't remember or know their equivalent I go away having learned how to communicate better, not wallow in deliberate misunderstanding.
Sifhraven
+1
Level 67
Sep 3, 2019
Bah some near misses isobella, and katharina... perhaps as type-ins? (could be katarina or katherine aswell what I tried, starting with K anyway)
Dazzy69
+2
Level 56
Jul 2, 2020
Jesus clutching at straws with ada lovelace , she died in 1850s ffs
HappyQuizzer
+2
Level 67
Apr 4, 2022
How is it clutching at straws to include the inventor computer programming? Pretty significant contribution to humanity. Her era makes her achievements all the more remarkable. Besides the quizmaker explained wanting to include a good variety.
brandybuck96
+1
Level 83
Mar 4, 2024
If Babbage is recognised as the pioneer of computing, then Lovelace has to be recognised as the pioneer of programming, as she is known to have written the first algorithm for his machine.
KanzazKyote
+1
Level 87
Oct 6, 2020
Can you please accept Chinese pinyin for this? I typed every single one of the Song sisters multiple times, I was so confused as to why Song (her ACTUAL name) didn't work.
JenkinsEar
+1
Level 89
Mar 11, 2021
I'd love to see Lyudmila Pavlichenko added!
Lilylee
+1
Level 74
Mar 16, 2021
Oh my, haven't heard of her before, quite the lady. However this is one of my "easier" quizzes so I think she might be a little bit too obscure. I think I haven't even seen Simo Häyhä, "The White Death", the deadliest sniper of all time mentioned here.
Hampus
+1
Level 57
Apr 19, 2021
You give me Marie Antoinette for just typing Marie.. but not Marie Curie?

Maybe accept last name instead.

Quizmaster
+2
Level ∞
Oct 17, 2021
Antoinette was not Marie Antoinette's family name.
Jango
+1
Level 64
Mar 9, 2022
Neither was Marie!
Hezzer619
+2
Level 53
Apr 26, 2021
I'm surprised that only 10% of test takers know who Tereshkova is.
cledun2
+1
Level 89
Feb 18, 2022
Oprah should be on here
Lilylee
+2
Level 74
Feb 18, 2022
Maybe I should do a more "modern day" version of this.
Jacktheguy
+2
Level 89
Mar 8, 2022
I don't know why, but I instinctively typed Oprah at one point without looking at the clues.
Raffles
+2
Level 68
Mar 8, 2022
Can Song be accepted for Soong Mei-ling? That is her original Chinese name
Zuczek
+1
Level 57
Mar 11, 2022
Song or Mei Ling... Why not???
K4ZB3RSKY
+1
Level 53
Mar 8, 2022
Accept Skłodowska for Marie Curie
Irishboy11
+1
Level 39
Mar 8, 2022
Will You Do One For International Men's Day
Lilylee
+4
Level 74
Mar 8, 2022
While I am a male myself, I've always felt that women are underrepresented on this site, there's like one in twenty ration quite often. Therefore I have no need to highlight men more than the site already does.
jayhiatt
+1
Level 70
Mar 8, 2022
Was surprised to see it accept "Lucy" for Lucille Ball.
Lilylee
+1
Level 74
Mar 8, 2022
Well that's how she was known, there was "The Lucy Show" and "I love Lucy".
RobNobody
+1
Level 76
Mar 8, 2022
Not to mention Here's Lucy and Life with Lucy, not to mention TV movies like Lucy Calls the President and Lucy Gets Lucky.
dogmeat
+1
Level 67
Mar 8, 2022
Surprised that the least answered question scores so low when all you have to do is type in her husbands name and it answers correctly. Even if (as with me) you have no idea of her name. Sort of undermines the whole point of international womens day if you allow them to be an adjunct of their partner.
Jango
+2
Level 64
Mar 9, 2022
I disagree. She was known by her husband's name as well as her unmarried name. And women's unmarried names generally come from their fathers
Jango
+1
Level 64
Mar 9, 2022
Thank you, Lilylee, really good quiz; wish I'd seen it yesterday for IWD!
sumguy
+2
Level 84
Mar 9, 2022
"Celtic queen who lead an uprising against the Roman Emipre"
FatSpartanJediLlama
+1
Level 67
Mar 10, 2022
18
Greatgull
+1
Level 46
Mar 16, 2024
Please accept Lemar.
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