Just one piece from the Great Minds puzzle range! Will you be able to master this challenging set of metal and wooden brainteasers?

Napoleon’s Cannonballs

Aim: Separate the pieces. Can you rebuild the pyramid?!

Emperor of France from 1804 to 1814 (and again briefly in 1815) Napoleon was one of the greatest military geniuses of all time. He dominated Continental Europe with a combination of huge armies and massive cannon power. He even led a military and archaeological expedition to Egypt and personally visited the Great Pyramid of Cheops. The empire he created was eventually defeated by a Grand Coalition, led by the Duke of Wellington, at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and he was exiled to the Isle of Elba.

Tesla’s Coil

Aim: Can you remove the ring from the spring?!

A Serbian American inventor and electrical and mechanical engineer, in 1891 Tesla developed an electrical resonant transformer circuit, known as Tesla’s Coil. This was used extensively in the early 20th century in radio transmitters and wireless telegraphy. Tesla also used his coil to conduct many innovative experiments in electrical currents. Renowned for his achievements in electrical conductivity and his showmanship, he earned a reputation in popular culture as the archetypal ‘mad scientist’.

Mozart’s Bass Clef

Aim: Separate the pieces. Can you reattach them again?

A prolific and brilliant composer of the classical era, Mozart’s musical genius showed from an early age. He was composing and also performing in front of European royalty at the age of five. During his short life he composed over 600 works, many considered the pinnacles of symphonic, chamber, operatic and choral music. His influence on all subsequent musical composition is immeasurable as is his enduring popularity. Mozart died at the age of 35 while still writing the “Requiem” arguably his most famous and exquisite work.

Khufu’s Pyramid

Aim: Separate the pieces. Can you rebuild the pyramid?!

Khufu the Great, or as he is perhaps better known by his Greek name Cheops, was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty in Egypt’s Old Kingdom. Little is known of his reign except that he had great wealth and authority, and had the foresight and vision to command the construction of one of the greatest edifices of all time, the Great Pyramid of Giza, his eventual tomb. It is thought to have taken over 30 years to build, and has dominated the horizons of Cairo for over 4500 years.

Drake’s Bowl

Aim: Separate the pieces. Can you rebuild the bowl?!

An English sea captain, privateer and navigator, Sir Francis Drake was the darling of both Queen Elizabeth 1st and the English people. He was only the second person to circumnavigate the globe, and was a constant scourge to the Spanish bullion ships coming from the Americas. Before his victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588 he was playing bowls at Plymouth Hoe, and when told of the arrival of the Spanish fleet he famously remarked that he had time to finish his game and still defeat the Armada.

Cassini’s Rings

Aim: Separate the rings. Can you reattach them again?!

An Italian mathematician, astronomer and engineer, Cassini is best known for his work in the field of astronomy. He discovered that the planet Saturn was surrounded by a series of rings in addition to four moons. He moved to Paris in 1669, where he served as the astronomer to Louis XIV (the Sun King) for the rest of his life. Whilst in this post he was the first to determine the distance between Earth and Mars, which allowed estimations of the dimensions of the Solar System to be made.

Jefferson’s Nails

Aim: Separate the nail. Can you reattach them again?!

The principle author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third president of the United States (1801-1809) Thomas Jefferson was an American founding father. A leader of the Enlightenment, he advanced the principles of republicanism and the rights of the individual, and drafted and signed a bill that banned slave importation into the United States. In addition, among his many other achievements, his interest in science resulted in him creating the first mass production nail manufacturing operation in America.

Van Gogh’s Box

Aim: Separates the pieces. Can you rebuild the box?

A Dutch post-impressionist artist, his works are among the world’s most valuable paintings. His use of bold colours and swirling brush strokes produced unique landscape paintings, and his prolific portraits and self portraits were full of emotional intensity. His work had a far reaching influence on 20th century art, but perhaps Van Gogh is most famous for cutting off his own ear during one of his many periods of mental anxiety and presenting the ear in a box to his friend and fellow painter Paul Gauguin.