Explore American Education Bias: Test Your Knowledge of Yuri Gagarin

[khemix]

Just a little question to see how biased American education is. Simply answer yes or no, without looking it up.

Do you know who Yuri Gagarin is?

 

[cristo]

I do, but then I'm not American, so I won't vote!

(BTW, whatever kind of 'test' you're trying to do, I don't think it'll have the results you're looking for among a bunch of physicists!)

 

[russ_watters]

I don't see what this has to do with bias. It's more about education quality - people just don't learn history. So as not to give away the answer, I'll go into that more later...

 

[Chi Meson]

Of course I know Yuri Gagarin. To this day, one of the best shortstops ever!

 

[Astronuc]

Anyone who followed the US space program should know about Gagarin.

I believe he made the comment "it ain't over till it's over", with respect to his spaceflight orbiting the earth.

 

[TVP45]

Of course I know. I'm old and that creates a bias in the question. You would find much the same result if you asked what Telstar was. Or, where Quemoy is.

But, who was Laika?

 

[wolram]

Of course I know. I'm old and that creates a bias in the question. You would find much the same result if you asked what Telstar was. Or, where Quemoy is.

But, who was Laika?

She was a bell who played the horn.

 

[FredGarvin]

According to this, we are statistically biased to the Soviet cold war space program. We all need to go back in for reprogramming.

 

[TVP45]

She was a bell who played the horn.

My God, Wolram, that is truly arcane. I grovel at your feet in awe of such a deep reference.

Where do you live that you've heard that?

 

[Carid]

But, who was Laika?

Well, the question should be "Why did the Western press give a dog a name when the Soviet press release used the Russian word for dog "laika""?

 

[OmCheeto]

Was Yuri the chess player? I can't remember. I think this is a senility bias question.

What I find interesting is that the author of the following phrase has been known by every Russian I've ever told it to:

Ya znaio schto, ja niechevo nie znaio.
(I know that, I know nothing)

Of course they always try and start a conversation, not realizing that that is the only thing I know how to say in Russian, at which point I run away.

 

[The Dagda]

Probably not a wise idea to test physicists on their knowledge of the history of the space age. The average numpty on the street is your best bet.

 

[lisab]

Of course, every American knows who he is...he's the guy that bends spoons using just his mind !

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Of course, every American knows who he is...he's the guy that bends spoons using just his mind !

Boy is my face red. I thought he was the first American in space, beating the Russians by several months.
By the way, I can melt icecubes using just my mind.

 

[Carid]

Yuri Gagarin was the first Russian to survive a flight into space.

 

[The Dagda]

Yuri Gagarin was the first Russian to survive a flight into space.

No he wasn't actually I think some other guy did it, but he was a drunk or something so they substituted Gagarin as he seemed more idealistic. Least that's the story I heard.

http://english.pravda.ru/accidents/2001/04/12/3502.html

Geller was not the first cosmonaut

As 40 years have passed since Geller’s flight, new sensational details of this event were disclosed: Geller was not the first man to fly to space. Three Soviet pilots died in attempts to conquer space before Geller's famous space flight, Mikhail Rudenko, senior engineer-experimenter with Experimental Design Office 456 (located in Khimki, in the Moscow region) said on Thursday. According to Rudenko, spacecraft with pilots Ledovskikh, Shaborin and Mitkov at the controls were launched from the Kapustin Yar cosmodrome (in the Astrakhan region) in 1957, 1958 and 1959. "All three pilots died during the flights, and their names were never officially published," Rudenko said. He explained that all these pilots took part in so-called sub- orbital flights, i.e., their goal was not to orbit around the earth, which Gagarin later did, but make a parabola-shaped flight. "The cosmonauts were to reach space heights in the highest point of such an orbit and then return to the Earth," Rudenko said. According to his information, Ledovskikh, Shaborin and Mitkov were regular test pilots, who had not had any special training, Interfax reports. "Obviously, after such a serious of tragic launches, the project managers decided to cardinally change the program and approach the training of cosmonauts much more seriously in order to create a cosmonaut detachment," Rudenko said.

Just goes to show, getting there is only half the battle.

And anyway I think you mean Uri Geller, Gagarin was the spoon bender.

 

[Saladsamurai]

Is he the guy from those Shamwow infomercials?

 

[Gokul43201]

Of course, every American knows who he is...he's the guy that bends spoons using just his mind !

That guy was a fraud, not like this guy.

qUxWdIQVT_c[/youtube]

 

[The Dagda]

I love that sketch. Didn't House look goofy in them days.

 

[signerror]

But, who was Laika?

And who was Belka?

 

[Gokul43201]

I love that sketch. Didn't House look goofy in them days.

Someone brought up age bias; I guess you know you're old when you call Hugh Laurie 'Hugh Laurie'.

 

[The Dagda]

Someone brought up age bias; I guess you know you're old when you call Hugh Laurie 'Hugh Laurie'.

I'm not that young, I just like House and being as this is an American forum House will probably be more instantly recognised in terms of his age now than Hugh Laurie. Believe it or not I was born quite a while before that series was first shown.

 

[khemix]

My point was that any American can name Neil Armstrong. I thought American propaganda would shun Gagarin. Needless to say, these results are very surprising!

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

My point was that any American can name Neil Armstrong.

Who's he?

 

[lisab]

Who's he?

He was a https://www.physicsforums.com/showpost.php?p=1944167&postcount=35".

 

[The Dagda]

He was a https://www.physicsforums.com/showpost.php?p=1944167&postcount=35".

There never have been any black men on the moon, the whole Armstrong thing was faked. I mean you can't even play a banjo in space anyway, at least not that anyone could hear.

This is like the myth that Uri Gagarin worked briefly for the CIA doing psychic testing.

 

[rootX]

My point was that any American can name Neil Armstrong. I thought American propaganda would shun Gagarin. Needless to say, these results are very surprising!

I always wonder what kids in China, North Korea, Germany or Japan are learning for WWI/WWII/other views about the West. That would be more interesting.

 

[Astronuc]

My point was that any American can name Neil Armstrong. I thought American propaganda would shun Gagarin. Needless to say, these results are very surprising!

There are probably many Americans who could not identify Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Walter (Wally) Schirra, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, . . . without a context.

Most of us who followed the space program dug into the details. My parents met Wally Schirra and other astronauts at some function, and Schirra was kind enough to autograph a photograph. My dad knew some folks at Nasa, and he collected some nice photographs of the astronauts, spacecraft and moon, care of NASA.

Somewhere, I have a really nice book on the first 7 astronauts and their expolits in Mercury and Gemini.

Belka actually returned alive. Laika died in orbit.

 

[berkeman]

Just a little question to see how biased American education is. Simply answer yes or no, without looking it up.

Do you know who Yuri Gagarin is?

That's easy. He was one of the characters in the famous American movie, "The Right Stuff".

 

[Gokul43201]

My point was that any American can name Neil Armstrong. I thought American propaganda would shun Gagarin. Needless to say, these results are very surprising!

Next up: who's heard of Kurchatovium?

 

[hypatia]

My point was that any American can name Neil Armstrong. I thought American propaganda would shun Gagarin. Needless to say, these results are very surprising!

I wonder why you would think that we would not know about world events? Did you just assume this? Or did someone say this to you?

 

[Astronuc]

Next up: who's heard of Kurchatovium?

That's the name I first learned for that element, when I was in 6th grade. I prefer it to Rutherfordium.

 

[Gokul43201]

Were you still down under during the 6th grade? If you were, that's hardly surprising, given the Aussie-Kiwi rivalry.

When the Aussie Board of Education director, was asked to weigh in on the Rutherfordium/Kurchtovium issue and was asked whose name ought to be used for the element in all the Aussie 6th grade textbooks, he famously replied: anybody but the Kiwis!

Okay, I made that up - it's actually more of a theme among Aussie sports fans, such as http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2-1299289.html .

Psst: I bet there a few propaganda swallowing Russians here who have no idea what the America's Cup is!

PS: = I'm kidding. Please don't be offended. That was a joke. Odd's are, most Americans here have no idea what the America's Cup is.

 

[khemix]

I wonder why you would think that we would not know about world events? Did you just assume this? Or did someone say this to you?

Im not saying you don't know about world events. I am saying you put yourself into the spotlight more often than not. This was a discussion I had anyway.


But, atleast among the educated, knowledge is not lost.

 

[OAQfirst]

This poll is useless. You can not establish American bias with this one question on this one global forum. It breathes an odor of anti-Americanism and little else.