Final Jeopardy: Historic Americans (12-29-20)

Today’s Final Jeopardy question (12/9/09) in the category “Historic Americans” was:

His collection of books suffered disastrous fires at the home called Shadwell in 1770 & at the Library of Congress in 1851

Dave Belote, base commander from Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, was a 5x champ with winnings of $134,801 when this game aired on 12/9/2009. In Game 6, his opponents were: Jove Graham, a biomedical engineer from Lewisburg, PA; and Sarah Weinschenk, a middle school Latin teacher from San Luis Obispo, CA.

Round 1 Categories: The Spanish Civil War – Animal Songs – Celebrated on His Birthday – Good as Gold – Missouri – The “Show” Me State

Dave found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Celebrated on His Birthday” under the $600 clue, with 9 clues left after it. He was in second place with $1,600, $4,400 less than Jove’s lead. He made it a true Daily Double and he was RIGHT.

Thesaurus Day, January 18 show

WHO IS ROGET?

Jove finished in the lead with $6,600. Dave was second with $3,800 and Sarah was last with $200. No clues went uncovered.

Round 2 Categories: Hull of Fame – The Funnyman Who Played… – Museums – Alphabetic Homophones – Roman Numeral Math – Galapagos Wildlife

Dave found the first Daily Double in “Alphabetic Homophones” under the $1,600 clue on the 5th pick. He was in second place with $5,000 now, $2,800 less than Jove’s lead. He bet it all again and he was RIGHT again.

Now prized for cabinetwork, this tree’s wood was used by British archers in the Middle Ages for longbows. show

WHAT IS THE YEW?

Jove got the last Daily Double in “Galapagos Wildlife” under the $1,600 clue, with only the $2,000 clue in the same category left after it. Due to a reversal (see below), Dave was in lead with $17,200. Jove was now in second place with $13,800. Jove bet $4,000 and he was RIGHT.

Contending with cold water & hot land, the Galapagos penguin is the only species to occur north of this line, the midpoint of the Tropics. show

WHAT IS THE EQUATOR?

Jove finished in the lead with $17,800. Dave was next with $17,200 and Sarah was in third place with $4,200. No clues went uncovered.

TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHO IS THOMAS JEFFERSON?

Tom Jewett writes on Varsity Tutor that Thomas Jefferson can be called one of America’s first true librarians. An avid book collector from an early age, Jefferson inherited some 40 volumes from his father at age 14. He continued to build upon that legacy by collecting books on many subjects but, his first library was destroyed when Shadwell, his mother’s home, burned down in 1770.

Jefferson built up another collection over the ensuing years and after the British maliciously destroyed the Library of Congress in 1814, Jefferson sold his own library to Congress for the sum of $23,950. The collection was said to be twice the size of the one destroyed by the British. William Thornton, the Commissioner of Patents, is said to have expressed the opinion that the purchase was really worth $50,000! Unfortunately, in 1851, the majority of this collection was destroyed by fire.

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Sarah thought it was Ben Franklin. She lost her $4,000 bet and finished with $200.

Dave got it right. He bet $8,799 and finished with $25,999.

Jove got it right, too. He bet a big $16,601 and won the game with $34,401. Jove Graham became the new Jeopardy! champ.

Reversal: MUSEUMS ($1200) Famed architect Philip Johnson called this man’s Bilbao Museum “the greatest building of our time” – Jove was wrong with Picasso. Dave was ruled wrong for “Guggenheim” but the judges reconsidered on the grounds that the clue didn’t make clear if “this man” referred to the designer (Frank Gehry) or the museum’s namesake. David got $2,400.

A triple stumper from each round:

CELEBRATED ON HIS BIRTHDAY ($1000) National Handwriting Day, January 23

GALAPAGOS WILDLIFE ($2000) The keel of the breastbone, where strong wing muscles would attach, is reduced on the flightless one of these; with no predators, in an isolated environment, it has become earthbound

More clues on Page 2

2 years ago: TWO of the players got this FJ in “The Supreme Court”

Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes once referred to this 1857 decision as the court’s first self-inflicted wound show

WHAT IS DRED SCOTT (vs. SANDFORD)?

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