Messenger

This was the question that fell to me in this particular round. The question master knew me well enough to know that I wasn't going to like it, and he said so.

One reason I didn't like it was that it was the first question in the round that I hadn't known the answer to. (In the rest of the round there was just one more: the one about the lilac.)

But the reason the question master knew I wasn't going to like it was because of the subject matter.

I'm going to express an opinion here. It's an opinion that most people find quite eccentric, not to say amusing, and it's true that I have yet to find anyone that fully agrees with me.

My humble opinion is: space travel (manned or unmanned) has no place in a science round.

Dictionary.com offers six definitions of the word 'science'. Some of them are so general that you could use them to justify the inclusion of literally anything in a science round. For example: "a particular branch of knowledge." Others tally more closely with my own idea of what science is. For example: "systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and experimentation."

As someone who studied science at 'A' Level, I regard science as the study of nature and natural phenomena. My contention is that if you accept this definition (which I know you may well not), there is no science in this question.

The question isn't about nature; it's about something that was made by mankind.

Just because the answer is the name of a planet, doesn't mean that it's about nature. If the question had asked (for example) which planet orbited closest to the Sun, that would be science; but asking which planet the Messenger mission visited is a bit like asking where the No. 192 bus goes to. It may be general knowledge, but it isn't science.

The fact that the mission had a scientific objective doesn't alter my opinion. This question says nothing about the scientific objective of the mission – which was (according to Wikipedia) "to study Mercury's chemical composition, geology, and magnetic field."

We scientists have few enough questions in our specialist subjects, compared to the humanists, without being deprived of the one we think we're entitled to each week.

When I heard the answer, I realised of course that there was a clue in the question (Mercury being the messenger of the gods in Roman mythology). The fact is, I was so wound up about the subject matter that I didn't stop to think it through.

That, of course, is entirely my own fault – even if, to be fair, it was the question master's remark that set me off. But it doesn't change my opinion about the inclusion of space travel in the Science round.

I said earlier in this piece that I had yet to find anyone who agreed with my opinion. But in putting the piece together, I've discovered that Wikipedia is on my side. On its Messenger disambiguation page, you will find the mission in question not under Science and Technology, but under Transport.