About this quiz
Famous World Personalities and Thinkers: Leaders, Philosophers, Scientists and Management Thinkers
This Lok Sewa practice set has 50 multiple-choice questions (Subject: General Knowledge · For: Kharidar · Level: Medium). Take the quiz above first; after that, use the study list below to revise every question with its correct answer and a short explanation.
Study list: all 50 questions with answers and explanations
Gautam Buddha was born in:
- A) Bodh Gaya
- B) Lumbini ✔
- C) Kushinagar
- D) Sarnath
Why: Siddhartha Gautam, later the Buddha, was born in Lumbini (Rupandehi district, Nepal) around 563 BC. Lumbini is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Who is called the father of political science?
- A) Plato
- B) Aristotle ✔
- C) Socrates
- D) Machiavelli
Why: Aristotle (384–322 BC), the Greek philosopher who wrote 'Politics' and compared many constitutions, is called the father of political science.
"The Republic" was written by:
- A) Aristotle
- B) Plato ✔
- C) Rousseau
- D) Kautilya
Why: Plato wrote 'The Republic', describing an ideal state ruled by philosopher-kings.
"Government of the people, by the people, for the people" was said by:
- A) Gandhi
- B) Lincoln ✔
- C) Churchill
- D) Mandela
Why: US President Abraham Lincoln used these words in his Gettysburg Address in 1863.
The first Black President of South Africa was:
- A) Desmond Tutu
- B) Nelson Mandela ✔
- C) Jacob Zuma
- D) Kofi Annan
Why: Nelson Mandela became South Africa's first Black President in 1994, after 27 years in prison and the end of apartheid.
"I have a dream" is a famous speech by:
- A) Martin Luther King Jr. ✔
- B) Barack Obama
- C) Lincoln
- D) Kennedy
Why: Martin Luther King Jr. gave the 'I have a dream' speech in Washington in 1963 during the US civil rights movement.
Who is known as the father of economics?
- A) Karl Marx
- B) Adam Smith ✔
- C) Keynes
- D) Ricardo
Why: Adam Smith, a Scottish economist, is called the father of economics for 'The Wealth of Nations' (1776).
The Communist Manifesto was written by Marx and:
- A) Lenin
- B) Engels ✔
- C) Stalin
- D) Mao
Why: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote 'The Communist Manifesto' in 1848.
The 14 principles of management were given by:
- A) F.W. Taylor
- B) Henri Fayol ✔
- C) Max Weber
- D) Maslow
Why: French industrialist Henri Fayol gave the 14 principles of management, such as division of work and unity of command.
The father of scientific management is:
- A) F.W. Taylor ✔
- B) Henri Fayol
- C) Peter Drucker
- D) Gulick
Why: Frederick Winslow Taylor (F. W. Taylor) is the father of scientific management, which studied work scientifically to raise efficiency.
The theory of bureaucracy is linked with:
- A) Max Weber ✔
- B) Maslow
- C) Adam Smith
- D) Fayol
Why: German sociologist Max Weber gave the theory of bureaucracy: hierarchy, written rules, specialisation and merit-based selection.
POSDCORB was given by:
- A) Luther Gulick ✔
- B) Woodrow Wilson
- C) Fayol
- D) Taylor
Why: Luther Gulick (with Lyndall Urwick) gave POSDCORB in 1937: Planning, Organising, Staffing, Directing, Co-ordinating, Reporting, Budgeting.
The hierarchy of needs theory was given by:
- A) Maslow ✔
- B) Herzberg
- C) McGregor
- D) Weber
Why: Abraham Maslow gave the hierarchy of needs: physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualisation.
The first woman to win a Nobel Prize was:
- A) Mother Teresa
- B) Marie Curie ✔
- C) Malala
- D) Florence Nightingale
Why: Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize (Physics, 1903). She won again in Chemistry in 1911.
The youngest Nobel Prize winner is:
- A) Malala Yousafzai ✔
- B) Greta Thunberg
- C) Mother Teresa
- D) Kailash Satyarthi
Why: Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan won the Peace Prize in 2014 at the age of 17, for girls' right to education.
'The Prince' was written by:
- A) Niccolò Machiavelli ✔
- B) Plato
- C) Hobbes
- D) Locke
Why: Italian thinker Niccolò Machiavelli wrote 'The Prince' in 1513, advice on gaining and keeping political power.
Arthashastra was written by:
- A) Kautilya (Chanakya) ✔
- B) Kalidasa
- C) Manu
- D) Ashoka
Why: Kautilya (Chanakya), adviser to Chandragupta Maurya, wrote the Arthashastra, an ancient Indian book on statecraft and economics.
Who is called the father of liberalism?
- A) John Locke ✔
- B) Hobbes
- C) Marx
- D) Rousseau
Why: English philosopher John Locke is called the father of liberalism for his ideas on natural rights to life, liberty and property.
Separation of powers was propounded by:
- A) Montesquieu ✔
- B) Rousseau
- C) Locke
- D) Hobbes
Why: French thinker Montesquieu explained separation of powers in 'The Spirit of the Laws' (1748).
The 'social contract' book (1762) was written by:
- A) Jean-Jacques Rousseau ✔
- B) Hobbes
- C) Locke
- D) Voltaire
Why: Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote 'The Social Contract' (1762), beginning: 'Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.'
Woodrow Wilson is known as the father of:
- A) Public administration ✔
- B) Economics
- C) Sociology
- D) Psychology
Why: Woodrow Wilson is called the father of public administration for his 1887 essay 'The Study of Administration'.
'Administrative Behavior' was written by:
- A) Herbert Simon ✔
- B) Max Weber
- C) Fayol
- D) Taylor
Why: Herbert Simon wrote 'Administrative Behavior' (1947), focusing on decision-making. He later won the Nobel Prize in Economics.
Theory X and Theory Y were given by:
- A) Douglas McGregor ✔
- B) Maslow
- C) Herzberg
- D) Mayo
Why: Douglas McGregor gave Theory X (workers dislike work and need control) and Theory Y (workers like responsibility and can self-direct).
The two-factor (motivation-hygiene) theory was given by:
- A) Frederick Herzberg ✔
- B) Maslow
- C) McGregor
- D) Vroom
Why: Frederick Herzberg's two-factor theory says hygiene factors (pay, conditions) prevent dissatisfaction, while motivators (achievement, recognition) motivate.
The Hawthorne experiments are linked with:
- A) Elton Mayo ✔
- B) Taylor
- C) Fayol
- D) Weber
Why: Elton Mayo's Hawthorne experiments (1920s–30s) showed that social factors and attention affect productivity, starting the human relations approach.
Management by Objectives (MBO) was popularised by:
- A) Peter Drucker ✔
- B) Taylor
- C) Fayol
- D) Simon
Why: Peter Drucker popularised Management by Objectives in 1954: managers and staff agree on goals and measure performance against them.
The prismatic-sala model is linked with:
- A) Fred Riggs ✔
- B) Weber
- C) Gulick
- D) Urwick
Why: Fred Riggs gave the prismatic-sala model to explain administration in developing societies, part of the ecology of administration.
Psychoanalysis was founded by:
- A) Sigmund Freud ✔
- B) Carl Jung
- C) Pavlov
- D) Skinner
Why: Sigmund Freud, an Austrian neurologist, founded psychoanalysis, the study of the unconscious mind.
'The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money' was written by:
- A) John Maynard Keynes ✔
- B) Adam Smith
- C) Marx
- D) Ricardo
Why: John Maynard Keynes wrote 'The General Theory' (1936), arguing that government spending can fight unemployment.
Who founded Sikhism?
- A) Guru Nanak ✔
- B) Guru Gobind Singh
- C) Kabir
- D) Mahavira
Why: Guru Nanak (1469–1539) founded Sikhism in Punjab.
Mahavira is associated with:
- A) Jainism ✔
- B) Buddhism
- C) Sikhism
- D) Taoism
Why: Mahavira was the 24th and last Tirthankara of Jainism, which teaches non-violence (ahimsa).
Confucius was a philosopher from:
- A) China ✔
- B) Japan
- C) India
- D) Greece
Why: Confucius was a Chinese philosopher who taught morality, family respect and good government.
Socrates was the teacher of:
- A) Plato ✔
- B) Aristotle
- C) Alexander
- D) Pythagoras
Why: Socrates taught Plato, and Plato taught Aristotle: the three great Greek philosophers.
Aristotle was the teacher of:
- A) Alexander the Great ✔
- B) Plato
- C) Socrates
- D) Julius Caesar
Why: Aristotle tutored Alexander the Great, who later built a huge empire.
Who led India's non-violent freedom struggle?
- A) Mahatma Gandhi ✔
- B) Subhas Bose
- C) Bhagat Singh
- D) Tilak
Why: Mahatma Gandhi led India's freedom struggle through non-violence (satyagraha), and India became independent in 1947.
Mao Zedong founded the People's Republic of China in:
- A) 1949 ✔
- B) 1911
- C) 1945
- D) 1962
Why: Mao Zedong declared the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949 after the communists won the civil war.
The current UN Secretary-General (since 2017) is:
- A) António Guterres ✔
- B) Ban Ki-moon
- C) Kofi Annan
- D) Boutros Ghali
Why: António Guterres of Portugal has been UN Secretary-General since 1 January 2017. He is the ninth Secretary-General.
The first UN Secretary-General was:
- A) Trygve Lie ✔
- B) Dag Hammarskjöld
- C) U Thant
- D) Kofi Annan
Why: Trygve Lie of Norway was the first UN Secretary-General (1946–1952).
Which UN Secretary-General was from Asia (Myanmar)?
- A) U Thant ✔
- B) Ban Ki-moon
- C) Kofi Annan
- D) Javier Pérez
Why: U Thant of Burma (Myanmar) was the third Secretary-General (1961–1971) and the first from Asia.
Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and:
- A) Paul Allen ✔
- B) Steve Jobs
- C) Larry Page
- D) Jeff Bezos
Why: Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft in 1975.
Apple was co-founded by:
- A) Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak ✔
- B) Gates and Allen
- C) Page and Brin
- D) Bezos
Why: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak (with Ronald Wayne) co-founded Apple in 1976.
Google was founded by Larry Page and:
- A) Sergey Brin ✔
- B) Mark Zuckerberg
- C) Elon Musk
- D) Bill Gates
Why: Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google in 1998, when they were students at Stanford University.
Facebook was founded by:
- A) Mark Zuckerberg ✔
- B) Jack Dorsey
- C) Bezos
- D) Musk
Why: Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook in 2004 with fellow Harvard students. Its parent company is now Meta.
Amazon was founded by:
- A) Jeff Bezos ✔
- B) Elon Musk
- C) Jack Ma
- D) Bill Gates
Why: Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in 1994, starting as an online bookshop.
Alibaba was founded by:
- A) Jack Ma ✔
- B) Ma Huateng
- C) Lei Jun
- D) Ren Zhengfei
Why: Jack Ma founded the Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba in 1999.
Winston Churchill won the Nobel Prize in:
- A) Literature ✔
- B) Peace
- C) Economics
- D) Physics
Why: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 for his historical writings and speeches.
Florence Nightingale is known as the founder of modern:
- A) Nursing ✔
- B) Surgery
- C) Pharmacy
- D) Psychology
Why: Florence Nightingale, 'the Lady with the Lamp', founded modern nursing after caring for soldiers in the Crimean War.
Kofi Annan was from:
- A) Ghana ✔
- B) Nigeria
- C) Kenya
- D) Egypt
Why: Kofi Annan of Ghana was the seventh UN Secretary-General (1997–2006) and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001.
Lenin led the revolution in:
- A) Russia ✔
- B) China
- C) Cuba
- D) France
Why: Vladimir Lenin led the Bolshevik (October) Revolution in Russia in 1917, which created the Soviet state.
Fidel Castro led the revolution in:
- A) Cuba ✔
- B) Bolivia
- C) Mexico
- D) Chile
Why: Fidel Castro led the Cuban Revolution, taking power in 1959.