Input: Transistor
The thermionic triode, a vacuum tube invented in 1907, enabled amplified radio technology and long-distance telephony. The triode, however, was a fragile device that consumed a lot of power. Physicist Julius Edgar Lilienfeld filed a patent for a field-effect transistor (FET) in Canada in 1925, which was intended to be a solid-state replacement for the triode. Lilienfeld also filed identical patents in the United States in 1926 and 1928. However, Lilienfeld did not publish any research articles about his devices nor did his patents cite any specific examples of a working prototype. Because the production of high-quality semiconductor materials was still decades away, Lilienfeld's solid-state amplifier ideas would not have found practical use in the 1920s and 1930s, even if such a device had been built. In 1934, German inventor Oskar Heil patented a similar device.

What year did Lilienfeld file his patent?
Output: 1925


Input: Article: Solar radiation is absorbed by the Earth's land surface, oceans – which cover about 71% of the globe – and atmosphere. Warm air containing evaporated water from the oceans rises, causing atmospheric circulation or convection. When the air reaches a high altitude, where the temperature is low, water vapor condenses into clouds, which rain onto the Earth's surface, completing the water cycle. The latent heat of water condensation amplifies convection, producing atmospheric phenomena such as wind, cyclones and anti-cyclones. Sunlight absorbed by the oceans and land masses keeps the surface at an average temperature of 14 °C. By photosynthesis green plants convert solar energy into chemically stored energy, which produces food, wood and the biomass from which fossil fuels are derived.

Now answer this question: How much of the earth is covered by oceans?

Output: about 71%


Article: The first known usage of the term in a legal context was in AD 380 by the Edict of Thessalonica of Theodosius I, which made Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire. Prior to the issuance of this edict, the Church had no state-sponsored support for any particular legal mechanism to counter what it perceived as "heresy". By this edict the state's authority and that of the Church became somewhat overlapping. One of the outcomes of this blurring of Church and state was the sharing of state powers of legal enforcement with church authorities. This reinforcement of the Church's authority gave church leaders the power to, in effect, pronounce the death sentence upon those whom the church considered heretical.

Question: Who intitiated Christianity to be a state church of the Roman Empire?
Ans: Thessalonica of Theodosius I


Here is a question about this article: On December 19, 2006, ESPN announced the purchase of a minority stake in the AFL. This deal included television rights for the ESPN family of networks. ESPN would televise a minimum of 17 regular season games, most on Monday nights, and nine playoff games, including ArenaBowl XXI on ABC. The deal resulted in added exposure on ESPN's SportsCenter. However, after the original AFL filed for bankruptcy, this arrangement did not carry over to the new AFL, which is a separate legal entity.
What is the answer to this question: On what date did ESPN buy a minority share of the AFL?
****
So... December 19, 2006


The problem: Answer a question about this article:
In the early 20th century, Japanese breeders began to selectively breed for increased egg production. By 1940, the quail egg industry was flourishing, but the events of World War II led to the complete loss of quail lines bred for their song type, as well as almost all of those bred for egg production. After the war, the few surviving domesticated quail were used to rebuild the industry, and all current commercial and laboratory lines are considered to have originated from this population. Modern birds can lay upward of 300 eggs a year and countries such as Japan, India, China, Italy, Russia, and the United States have established commercial Japanese quail farming industries. Japanese quail are also used in biomedical research in fields such as genetics, embryology, nutrition, physiology, pathology, and toxicity studies. These quail are closely related to the common quail, and many young hybrid birds are released into the wild each year to replenish dwindling wild populations.
Are quails used for any purpose other than human consumption ?
****
The answer: Japanese quail are also used in biomedical research in fields such as genetics, embryology, nutrition, physiology, pathology, and toxicity studies


The problem: Answer a question about this article:
Estonian language planners such as Ado Grenzstein (a journalist active in Estonia in the 1870s–90s) tried to use formation ex nihilo, Urschöpfung; i.e. they created new words out of nothing.
In what years did Ado Grenzstein do journalism work in Estonia?
****
The answer:
1870s–90s