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The impressive chemistry knowledge of talk-show hosts

By Wavefunction on Monday, December 10, 2007
I got this from Philip Ball's blog. Jeremy Paxman is a talk-show host in the UK. Apparently he has some quiz session where invariably a few science questions creep in. This is how the intrepid host tackles chemistry questions:
Paxman: “Which hydrated ferrous salt was once known as green vitriol?”
Student: “Iron sulphate.”
Paxman: “No, it’s just sulphate.”
Score one for the need to enroll talk-show hosts in science class, or maybe just a class in reasonableness.
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1 comment:

  1. Anonymous8:36 PM, September 19, 2009

    Jeremy Paxman doesn't really fit the description of 'talk show host'. He presents 'Newsnight', a serious and respected news and current affairs programme in the UK. The 'quiz session' you refer to is actually another programme called 'University Challenge' in which teams of students compete. It's a shame he wasn't better advised about the chemistry though.

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