Final Jeopardy: Scientists’ Names (2-5-25)
The Final Jeopardy question (2/5/2025) in the category “Scientists’ Names” was:
The first man to observe bacteria & protozoa had a name containing the Dutch word for this much bigger creature
The players in the second semifinal match of the 2025 Tournament of Champions are: 9x champ Isaac Hirsch, a customer support team lead from Burbank, CA; 5x champ Mark Fitzpatrick, a content manager from Riverside, CT; and 4x champ Amy Hummel, an ER doctor from Milwaukee, WI.
Round 1 Categories: Italian Words & Phrases – Have I Got News for You – Elemental Names – Occupational Hazards –
A Half Hour of Television – English Class
Isaac found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Elemental Names” under the $800 clue on the 11th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $3,200, $1,200 more than Amy in second place. Isaac made it a true Daily Double and struggled with it. He finally came up with iron cobra but that was WRONG.
According to a study published in 2016, this venomous pit viper was responsible for 39% of snake bites on U.S. kids show
Isaac finished in the lead with $5,000. Amy was second with $4,000 and Mark was last with $1,200. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: U.N. Secretaries-General – Movies After You Press Play – Lit-pourri – Around the World – Where the Buffalo Roam – Let’s Get Qui”zz”ical
Mark found the first Daily Double in “Around the World” under the $1,600 clue on the 5th pick of the round. He was in second place with $4,400, $4,200 less than Isaac’s lead. Mark made it a true Daily Double and he was RIGHT.
The Genghis Khan Statue Complex is found about 35 miles west of this city of 1.5 million show
Isaac found the last Daily Double in “Movies After You Press Play” under the $1,200 clue on the 17th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $15,000, $600 more than Mark in second place. Isaac bet $5,000 and tried “3 Days of the Condor”. That was WRONG.
1981: The Paramount Pictures mountain fades into a Peruvian Peak show
Mark finished in the lead with $18,400. Isaac was second with $13,600 and Amy was last with $5,600. All clues were shown.
Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS LION?
Leeuw is the Dutch word for lion. Per lensonleeuwenhoek.net, this surname comes from where Van Leeuwenhoek’s grandfather lived — at the corner (hoek) of Little Lion’s Gate (Leeuwenpoortje). I watched a children’s jungle safari video to get the correct pronunciation of Leeuw. He’s the 2nd animal shown and, perhaps not surprisingly, it sounds like “Leo”.
FYI: Although Van Leeuwenhoek is credited with first observing protozoa and bacteria, he called them “animalcules” (little animals). Georg August Goldfuss, coined “protozoa” in 1818 (from the Greek prôtos, “first” + zôia, “animal”. Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg coined the term “bacteria” in 1838 (from the Greek baktḗria, “little stick”. Both men were Germans who specialized in various scientific fields.
Amy thought it was a goose. She lost $5,599 and finished with one guilder.
Isaac got it right. He bet $4,000 and finished with $17,600.
Mark wrote down Leviathan. He lost $8,801 and finished with $9,599, and that handed the semifinal spot to Isaac Hirsch.
A triple stumper from each round:
OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS ($600) Sylvia Mackey is the mother of The 88 Plan, which provides aid to retirees who had this job & suffer from dementia
LIT-POURRI ($1600) A crime fiction magazine published continuously since 1941 bears the name of this fictional author/detective
2 years ago: TWO of the players got this FJ in “EUROPEAN CITIES”
Alphabetically the first German city in encyclopedias, it was also the first one taken by the Allies in World War II show
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I got that first round DD because that was one of my nicknames back in the day, a reference to my Irish temper. lol. I hope Isaac has better luck with the DD’s in the finals.
On another note, it doesn’t really bother me when Ken gives a more correct pronunciation of a response after the player like he did with the last name of actor Milo in the Italian category today. It did tick me off, though, when he didn’t do it for the French author of Boule de Suif. Guy in English rhymes with “buy”. In French, Guy rhymes with “see”.