Trinity Professor Dr. Paul Bialek on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
If you tuned in to the ABC game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? on January 17-18, 2007, you may have seen Trinity College's Associate Professor of Mathematics Dr. Paul Bialek taking his turn in the hot seat. Dr. Bialek walked away from the show with $16,000 in winnings.
On the January 17 episode, Dr. Bialek made it up to the $16,000 question, using two lifelines. He continued on Thursday with only one lifeline left ("Phone-A-Friend"), facing the $25,000 question:
"Which of the following 'colors' has not also been the last name of a U.S. Supreme Court justice? A) White, B) Green, C) Gray, D) Black." The correct answer was B—previous Supreme Court Justices include Edward and Byron White, Hugo Black, Horace Gray.
After using his final lifeline, Dr. Bialek was not able to come up with a definitive answer. He chose to walk away with the $16,000 he had already won instead of to risk falling back to $1,000 by guessing incorrectly.
More about Dr. Bialek
Several years ago, Dr. Bialek played "Who Wants to Be a Mathematician" at an event for teachers who grade the AP Calculus exam. He won a $400 calculator without using a single lifeline. Bialek—who drives an old police car that he purchased at an auction—said that if he won on Millionaire, he would buy a minivan, travel, and give ten percent of his winnings to his church. Bialek's family could not join him for the October taping in New York, but they did send a taped message, which he was thrilled to watch before facing the $100 question in the hot seat.
Author: Communications/Marketing
Date posted: January 12, 2007
