Final Jeopardy: Scientific Words (1-20-26)
The Final Jeopardy question (1/20/2026) in the category “Scientific Words” was:
A Nobel laureate coined this word “to avoid the repetition of the rather cumbersome phrase ‘mould broth filtrate'”
Quarterfinal 2 of the 2026 Tournament of Champions features: 6x champ, Andrew Hayes, a judicial law clerk orig. from Tupelo, MS; 3x champ, Brendan Liaw, a law student and away-from-home son from Vancouver, British Columbia; and 4x champ, Allegra Kuney, a Ph.D. candidate from New Brunswick, NJ.
Round 1 Categories: A Cult Band – National Parks of the World – Standing on Business – The Tale That Wags the Dog – Ranks & Titles – Rhyme Time
Brendan found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “National Parks of the World” under the $600 clue on the 16th pick of the round. He was in last place with $200, $2,800 less than Allegra’s lead. Brendan bet $1,000 and he was RIGHT.
The most famous feature of Venezuela’s Canaima National Park, it has an initial plunge of 2,648 feet show
Brendan finished in the lead with $3,600. Allegra was second with $3,000 and Andrew was last with -$1,000. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: Occult Bands – Lawyers – What a Time to Be Alive – Role-Playing Roles – Pop-up-Pourri – Back Words
Andrew found the first Daily Double in “Back Words” under the $1,200 clue on the 5th pick of the round. He was in last place with $200 now, $5,600 less than Allegra’s lead. Andrew bet $2,000 and he was RIGHT.
Turn over a painting & you might find labels, notes or even a signature on this side, a 5-letter word from Latin for “to turn” show
Allegra got the last Daily Double in “What a Time to be Alive” under the $1,600 clue on the 8th pick of the round. In second place with $5,000, she had $600 less than Brendan’s lead. Allegra bet $4,000 and she was RIGHT.
Mansa Musa I recruited scholars & architects to go to Timbuktu during the height of this 4-letter West African empire show
Allegra finished in the lead with a runaway $18,200. Brendan was in second place with $8,000. Andrew was last with $6,200. All clues were shown.
TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS PENICILLIN?
Alexander Fleming explained how he came up with the name “penicillin” in his 12/11/1945 Nobel lecture: “I have been frequently asked why I invented the name ‘Penicillin.’ I simply followed perfectly orthodox lines and coined a word which explained that the substance penicillin was derived from a plant of the genus Penicillium just as many years ago the word “Digitalin” was invented for a substance derived from the plant Digitalis.”
In that same lecture, Fleming talks about lysozyme, an antibiotic he discovered and named in 1921, although he didn’t explain how he came up with that name.
Andrew got it right. He bet $1,801 and finished with $8,001.
Brendan got it right, too. He bet $1,337 and finished with $9,337.
Allegra went with agar. That only cost her $10. She finished with $18,190 and that earned her a spot in the semifinals.
A triple stumper from each round:
STANDING ON BUSINESS ($800) This Houston company traces its roots back to 1919 & its namesake founder, an oil well cementing pioneer
OCCULT BANDS ($1600) 19th c. spiritualism had journals, such as this person “& Daybreak”; Issue 1 says the icy finger of death is not the end of contact
2 years ago: TWO of the players got this FJ in “U.S. BUSINESS FOUNDERS”
A 1934 note to him: “Received hunting clothes… and thank you for those wonderful shoes they fit perfect… your friend, Babe Ruth” show
IF YOU HAVE SUGGESTIONS FOR CHANGES TO THE SHOW OR COMPLAINTS, PLEASE SEND YOUR FEEDBACK DIRECTLY TO JEOPARDY!
We may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases made from Amazon.com links at no cost to our visitors. Learn more: Affiliate Disclosure.
Rough start to this game, especially for the guys, including me. I was stumped repeatedly out of the gate. And all that video game stuff was like trying to read Navajo. First DD was easy; 2nd I just couldn’t recall it; third one was a cinch if you know where Timbuktu is. For Final, I said penicillin right away, fairly sure it came from chickens or eggs (which came first?).
Utterly shocked no one knew the iconic, 3-person Canadian band. Not one of my faves, but c’mon. “On target” is what gave me Sikes’ dog, not the fact that I saw the show on Broadway in 1964 (with foture Monkee Davy Jones as the Artful Dodger!) The Yankees’ WS hero was gravy for me.
Too bad for the guys it was a lock game, as they both scored on Final. Believe me, it sucks.
Ugh, 1/3 on DD and missed FJ with no answer!
And, one easy DD, “Angel Falls”, and I missed the one 4-letter always go-to in Africa! Mali!!
Ouch that must have stung, missing Final. Note to self: do not ask Jason for an antibiotic Rx. 🙂
😂👍
There were a lot of tough clues in today’s game, but in any case, it was a clear runaway for Allegra.. Anyways, we were all stung in FJ because the local channel had blocked half of the question with a ‘Winter Weather Advisory’. What a bummer!
Wow! Mucho stumpers in this game. I got 6 of them. I wasn’t at all sure I was right on the postage stamp stuff, but I said the answer out loud so I’m counting it. Those 3 never saw the Oscar-winning musical Oliver! The dog’s name was in the book too, but you’d be more likely to remember it if you saw the musical.
Andrew had negative $1,000 at the end of the Jeopardy Round.