Warning: This page contains spoilers for the October 16, 2023, game of Jeopardy! — please do not scroll down if you wish to avoid being spoiled. Please note that the game airs as early as noon Eastern in some U.S. television markets.
Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category The Nobel Prize in Physics) for Monday, October 16, 2023 (Season 40, Game 26):
Barry Barish, who shared the 2017 Prize for detecting gravitational waves, called his award “a win for” this predecessor
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Dane Reighard, a writer & editor from Los Angeles, California |
Kendra Blanchette, a registered dietitian from Elk Grove, California |
Josh Saak, a traffic engineer from Boise, Idaho |
Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Today’s second semifinal in the Spades bracket of Fall 2023’s Champions Wildcard features three players who, while they did outperform their opponents over all 61 clues, were each the recipient of a fortuitous break in Final Jeopardy to advance this far (either by a wagering error or an incorrect response from an opponent). I should reiterate, though—the object is to have the most money at the end, and each of these three players did that in the quarterfinals! The similarities don’t end there: both Josh and Dane’s regular-play runs ended to Jeopardy! Masters Season 1 participants (Matt Amodio and Andrew He respectively). Meanwhile, Kendra herself did have a very strong quarterfinal match; I could see any of these three players winning this one!
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Correct response: Who is Albert Einstein?
More information about Final Jeopardy:
(The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2023 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity predicted the existence of gravitational waves; however, it took until 2015 for those waves to be seen, thanks to research done at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). This research was headed up by Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish, and Kip Thorne, who split the 2017 Nobel for these observations. These gravitational waves were observed when two “black holes” combined in the universe, 1.3 billion light years away, to form a single, larger black hole. Barish’s comments to the Associated Press credited Einstein for his work in predicting the existence of these gravitational waves.
In my opinion, this clue becomes at least a 50/50 shot if you remember, “Who is the show most likely to ask about here?” Because they generally expect their audience to have heard of the correct response, this means that the contestants should be trying to guess between Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking. I also think that the coin flip weighs in Einstein’s direction if you remember that Hawking was still alive at that point and would have received the prize himself if he had been involved. Thus, I think a contestant who can keep their head about them in Final Jeopardy (and can get in the head of the writer—sometimes a crucial skill in trivia) may have an advantage when answering this clue correctly.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Monday, October 16, 2023 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: This Gland Is Your Gland; A Prequel To Which Movie?; British Spelling Bee; I Didn’t Come Here To Make Friends; Kickin’ Aztec; & Takin’ Names)
Josh had a bad time in THIS GLAND IS YOUR GLAND to open with a pair of incorrect responses, but he recovered well by the opening break. After the break, Kendra doubled up through the Daily Double and held a slim lead over Dane.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Kendra 4 correct 0 incorrect
Dane 4 correct 0 incorrect
Josh 5 correct 2 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Dane prepared with yoga, deep meditation, and… video games.
Kendra thought that playing with Alex as host was a life goal.
Josh has a wife who graduated medical school 3 hours after their wedding.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Kendra 7 correct 1 incorrect
Dane 11 correct 1 incorrect
Josh 6 correct 3 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Kendra $4,600
Dane $4,400
Josh $1,000
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: O Brother, Where Art Thou?; In The Baseball Team’s Lineup; The Literary Character Who Said…; You Do The Math; Want To Make Something Out Of It?; Change A Letter)
Kendra was cruising early in Double Jeopardy—but a missed Daily Double dropped her score significantly. Dane got to the third one, and his correct response gave him a lead that he carried through to the Final Jeopardy round.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Dane 19 correct 1 incorrect
Josh 16 correct 4 incorrect
Kendra 16 correct 2 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 0 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Dane $14,400
Josh $12,200
Kendra $10,200
Josh was the only player who came up with Einstein today, which means he’ll be joining Sam in the finals!
Tonight’s results:
Kendra $10,200 – $5,000 = $5,200 (Who is Newton?)
Josh $12,200 + $2,205 = $14,405 (Who is Einstein?) (Finalist)
Dane $14,400 – $7,000 = $7,400 (Who is Newton?)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) & TAKIN’ NAMES $600 (clue #20)
Kendra 2600 +2600 (Josh 1400 Dane 3200)
2) THE LITERARY CHARACTER WHO SAID… $1600 (clue #10)
Kendra 8200 -3200 (Josh 5400 Dane 5600)
3) O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? $2000 (clue #18, $15200 left on board)
Dane 7600 +2000 (Josh 7800 Kendra 5800)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 87
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Josh 2 3 2 3 2 1
Kendra 1 5 4 3 2 1 3*
Dane 4 5 2 5 4 3 1
DJ! Round:
Josh 3 5 2 2 3 2 4
Kendra 4 1 1 4* 5† 1 3
Dane 2 3 2 5*
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Josh 2.62
Dane 3.27
Kendra 2.71
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 0 (0.00 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Josh $12,200 Coryat, 16 correct, 4 incorrect, 33.33% in first on buzzer (19/57), 0/1 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Dane $14,400 Coryat, 19 correct, 1 incorrect, 33.33% in first on buzzer (19/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Kendra $11,400 Coryat, 16 correct, 2 incorrect, 24.56% in first on buzzer (14/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $38,000
Lach Trash: $9,000 (on 8 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $7,000
Lead Changes: 6
Times Tied: 0
Player Statistics:
Josh Saak, career statistics:
131 correct, 18 incorrect
4/6 on rebound attempts (on 21 rebound opportunities)
38.12% in first on buzzer (130/341)
6/7 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $19,600)
5/6 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $17,000
Kendra Blanchette, career statistics:
99 correct, 11 incorrect
11/12 on rebound attempts (on 28 rebound opportunities)
30.18% in first on buzzer (86/285)
5/7 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $9,000)
1/5 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $15,480
Dane Reighard, career statistics:
105 correct, 16 incorrect
3/3 on rebound attempts (on 23 rebound opportunities)
37.19% in first on buzzer (106/285)
5/7 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $19,000)
2/5 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $14,880
Andy’s Thoughts:
- The KICKIN’ AZTEC $1000 clue, and the stumbling of “Tenochtitlan” definitely reminded me of the Solzhenitsyn incident from last season.
- Today’s box score: October 16, 2023 Box Score.
- Thank you to those who pointed out various errors in today’s recap. They should all be corrected.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Dane $14,400 Josh $12,200 Kendra $10,200)
Josh: You’re in what is known as Stratton’s Dilemma; you can’t both cover Kendra and win a Triple Stumper. Either bet $1,999 or less (therefore forcing Kendra to be correct to pass you) or go all in. (Actual bet: $2,205)
Kendra: Limit your bet to $5,800 to stay ahead of Dane. (Actual bet: $5,000)
Dane: Standard cover bet over Josh is $10,001. You should do this, because Josh has occasion to go all-in, being in Stratton’s Dilemma. (Actual bet: $7,000)
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I knew that Albert Einstein had predicted the existence of gravitational waves, so I got this one right away. Great start to the week—I hope that this predicts a better run than I had last week! Trivia tidbit: Steven Hawking, despite his genius, never received a Nobel Prize in Physics because he was a theoretical physicist.
P.S. Andy, I have noticed that there have been no unplayed clues since this season began. Does that set some kind of a record?
Hi again, RedRose, Thanks for your most-recent reply to my recent thank-you note to you. I appreciate it! Judith P.
Kind of a gimme, no? 🙂
I thought Einstein was too obvious…so hearing “waves” I went with Doppler.
I also thought Einstein was too obvious, so seeing ‘gravitational’, I thought gravity and went with Sir Isaac.
I may have been wrong but I had good company with two of the three contestants.
The existence of gravitational waves led me to Einstein but I did not go for newton. This was a gimmie from what I have seen
I’m glad I’m not alone going with Mr. Newton.
I’m pretty sure that Newton wasn’t a Nobel laureate, since Nobel was long after his time. “Predecessor” was a key word that made me limit my response to the 1900s. You gotta watch for clues like that in FJ.
I just took “predecessor” to mean dead (before 2017) physicist rather than previous Nobel winner, so to me it could have been at least (but most likely) Newton or Einstein. I knew Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity predicted the existence of gravitational waves, so I thought that was probably who Barish was referring to and thus made Albert Einstein my response.
I also read “predecessor” to mean a previous Nobel winner.
Predecessor just means someone who came before in the field, not specifically a Nobel Laureate. At least, that’s how I took it.
Part of my thinking about “dead” was that he had said predecessor rather than contemporary or fellow physicist (or something like that) AND that if the person’s work had been important enough to give a ‘Win’ credit to, it would have been enough for the Nobel committee to have included them in this award had they still been alive. [Nobel Prizes are not awarded posthumously unless the person died between being named the recipient and the actual ceremony.]
TBH, I could not remember whether Einstein had ever received a Nobel or not since one’s achievements are not always recognized in their lifetime (and each year someone else could keep being deemed more worthy for some other reason), but he did.
I have a t-shirt that says: You matter, unless you multiply yourself by the speed of light squared, then you energy.
Love it!
[It does make me wish I could multiply myself by the speed of light ‘not squared’ and have a little less matter and a little more energy.]
[It also makes me think of my grandfather’s favorite humorous-type quote, “Pie are round, cornbread are square.”]
The only kind of cornbread I knew growing up was skillet cornbread. I was amazed the first time I encountered the ‘square’ kind 😮😅
Woman down the street from me made the best corn bread. Would leave the grease from the pan fried chicken in the iron skillet, and then make the corn bread in there. I’m a vegan now, but back then, it was the best.
I genuinely thought this was going to be a triple get. As soon as I read the clue, the response (to paraphrase Miley Cyrus) came in like a wrecking ball.
I thought Richter, as in Richter Scale, but I’m not so bright in this subject.
I forgot the exact year Steven Hawking died and believed that his name would be the answer.
I too thought Einstein was too obvious and went with Hawking. And especially give the category, I too assumed “predecessor” meant previous Nobel laureate
I think there was an error in the gland category. It’s the parathyroid gland that regulates calcium. Not the thyroid. It didn’t matter in the result. The contestant got it wrong.
“This gland in the front of the neck below the larynx makes calcitonin”
The thyroid makes calcitonin.
The show was correct.