random question from 1996

[seaborgium]

The J!Archive says he was a teacher from Austin, whereas the obits all talk about IBM. Although it certainly would not be unheard of for a teacher to switch careers based on the salary differential.

http://www.inmemoryofpeter.com/?page_id=6

Dr. Nielsen taught at the University of Michigan, University of Texas and LBJ High School here in Austin.At the time of his death he was employed by IBM.

[MarkBarrett]

I tried googling Peter to see if we could get any word directly from him about it, and found an obituary site that could very well be for him. http://www.inmemoryofpeter.com (No mention of Jeopardy there, but it seems like those who posted there met him after 1996.) The pictures don't work, but they do on archive.org:

http://web.archive.org/web/201102011844 ... peter3.jpg
http://web.archive.org/web/201102011844 ... peter2.jpg

Mark, can you confirm whether it's the same person based on having looked at the show?

You tell me. Looks like the same hairline in front and same long mouth.

[Paucle]

I would say that's him. Too bad.

[Bamaman]

Mark, is there some way you could post this game on you tube? I'd love to see it.

[Austin Powers]

Perhaps they can bring back his probate attorney to play on behalf of the estate? This may be the most morbid non-TPH related thread in this board's history.

[MDaunt]

Definitely the same guy. Eyebrows, mouth and nose are the same.

[MarkBarrett]

Mark, is there some way you could post this game on you tube? I'd love to see it.

Pointing my digital camera in video mode at the TV for 30 minutes and being wishful for no interruptions is never fun when the audio ends up being very poor for YouTube anyway. Sorry, I'll pass.

Two more things: I looked at the January - July 1997 gaps in the archive, checked those dates for a Peter and located none.

I listened to the interview and Alex told Peter he thought he detected an English accent. Peter corrected Alex that it was South African.

[Bamaman]

Thanks, anyway.

I'd say the guy on the show being South African is the clincher.

[seaborgium]

I looked at the January - July 1997 gaps in the archive, checked those dates for a Peter and located none.

How about 1/1/98 or 5/25/98? I figure those are the last unturned stones before I concede that they never set this one right.

[MarkBarrett]

I looked at the January - July 1997 gaps in the archive, checked those dates for a Peter and located none.

How about 1/1/98 or 5/25/98? I figure those are the last unturned stones before I concede that they never set this one right.

January 1 games were near impossible for me to see back in the day. Someone else will have to check that one, but with champ Brent and opponent Bill it would mean Peter made it all dudes for that game. I would guess a woman played in the New Year's game. May 25 had an Eileen & a Jim with returning champ Louis.

[TheConfessor]

The J!Archive says he was a teacher from Austin, whereas the obits all talk about IBM. Although it certainly would not be unheard of for a teacher to switch careers based on the salary differential.

TheConfessor is from Austin and worked for IBM. He might know whether it's the same person.

Yes, I worked at IBM Austin for 29 years. It's where the servers for Watson were developed. Unfortunately, I don't recall meeting this guy, but there were about 7,000 employees at the site and it sounds as if he wasn't there very long. I'm sorry to hear that he passed away, especially if he died without being recognized for the Jeopardy win that he apparently earned.

Nothing about this story makes sense to me. It's hard to imagine Jeopardy allowing such an egregious error to get through the vetting process, and then when the guy came up with the real correct answer, it seems as if they would have fixed the problem immediately, before it was ever broadcast.

[Austin Powers]

What is so strange is how plainly wrong it is. What is landlocked country in Europe? You just said "Switzerland" I bet. (Ok Kendall I know you said Liechtenstein). By the definition eliminating Kazakhstan, Switzerland is not landlocked, either. Which makes their America's Cup victory less ironic.

[goforthetie]

What a strange thread this has turned into...

I hope J! tracks down Peter's next-of-kin, informs them that he can be called a J! champion, and donates $7400 to the charity of their choice.

[Jeff-thecdboy]

I looked at the January - July 1997 gaps in the archive, checked those dates for a Peter and located none.

How about 1/1/98 or 5/25/98? I figure those are the last unturned stones before I concede that they never set this one right.

January 1 games were near impossible for me to see back in the day. Someone else will have to check that one, but with champ Brent and opponent Bill it would mean Peter made it all dudes for that game. I would guess a woman played in the New Year's game. May 25 had an Eileen & a Jim with returning champ Louis.

The third contestant's name on the 1/1/98 show was Constance (yes, it was a woman).

[alietr]

While this crew has made an important discovery about the show before, I keep thinking we're missing something here. You would think something so obviously wrong would have been figured out. I don't know what, though.

[kingskip]

I didn't see that episode, but oddly enough I saw the one the next day on 12/18/1996 three times. I saw it the day it first aired, then it was rerun in weekend repeats on 4/11/1998, then it was shown again on 12/25/2000 Christmas Day on GSN.

[jeff6286]

What a strange thread this has turned into...

I hope J! tracks down Peter's next-of-kin, informs them that he can be called a J! champion, and donates $7400 to the charity of their choice.

Don't forget 15 years of interest on that $7400!

Here's another interesting clue from the same game we've been discussing, in the category Guinness Records:
With 7 movies in the all-time Top 10, he's the world's most successful director

All-time Top 10 of what? Box office? Critical acclaim? The IMDB top 250? (I doubt if that was around in 1996.) I can't think of any quantifiable method by which one could find any director to fit that clue as written. Assuming the criteria is domestic box office gross, not adjusted for inflation, then the clue may not be off by miles, but it is definitely off. As of 1996, the man in question had 7 films that had made at least $130 million at the box office. This is impressive for the time, but not even close to being 7 of the all time top 10. Other pre-1996 films that had more than $130 million include: The 3 Star Wars films, Gone With the Wind, Snow White, The Exorcist, Grease, The Sting, Animal House, Saturday Night Fever, The Godfather, and Superman. These were all released in 1983 or earlier. Counting the rest of the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s, there are another 50-60 films that topped $130 million, so I have no idea what they were thinking with this clue.

Since the clue did say "the world's most successful director", I looked at worldwide grosses as well, and while it may be closer, there is still no way to say that he had 7 of the all time top 10 in 1996. He had 7 movies with over $321 million worldwide, but again this figure is easily topped by the 3 Star Wars, plus many other films, mostly of the 80s and early 90s. Forrest Gump, Lion King, Aladdin, Home Alone, Batman, Ghost, T2 and many others are hundreds of millions ahead of that $321 million figure, so again, while he has an impressive resume, he's nowhere close to having 7 of the all time top 10 by any objective criteria that I can think of, let alone one that could have been measured by Guinness.

By the way, in case you didn't know, the correct response given on the show was:

Spoiler: show

Steven Spielberg

[dhkendall]

What is so strange is how plainly wrong it is. What is landlocked country in Europe? You just said "Switzerland" I bet. (Ok Kendall I know you said Liechtenstein).

Actually, I said Austria.

Here's another interesting clue from the same game we've been discussing, in the category Guinness Records:
With 7 movies in the all-time Top 10, he's the world's most successful director

All-time Top 10 of what? Box office? Critical acclaim? The IMDB top 250? (I doubt if that was around in 1996.) I can't think of any quantifiable method by which one could find any director to fit that clue as written. Assuming the criteria is domestic box office gross, not adjusted for inflation, then the clue may not be off by miles, but it is definitely off. As of 1996, the man in question had 7 films that had made at least $130 million at the box office. This is impressive for the time, but not even close to being 7 of the all time top 10. Other pre-1996 films that had more than $130 million include: The 3 Star Wars films, Gone With the Wind, Snow White, The Exorcist, Grease, The Sting, Animal House, Saturday Night Fever, The Godfather, and Superman. These were all released in 1983 or earlier. Counting the rest of the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s, there are another 50-60 films that topped $130 million, so I have no idea what they were thinking with this clue.

Since the clue did say "the world's most successful director", I looked at worldwide grosses as well, and while it may be closer, there is still no way to say that he had 7 of the all time top 10 in 1996. He had 7 movies with over $321 million worldwide, but again this figure is easily topped by the 3 Star Wars, plus many other films, mostly of the 80s and early 90s. Forrest Gump, Lion King, Aladdin, Home Alone, Batman, Ghost, T2 and many others are hundreds of millions ahead of that $321 million figure, so again, while he has an impressive resume, he's nowhere close to having 7 of the all time top 10 by any objective criteria that I can think of, let alone one that could have been measured by Guinness.

But the point is, according to the category, it apparently *has* been measured by Guiness, and that's their source. You can complain that they used a particular source and not another particular source to judge that question, but you can't claim that it's unfair that it's unmeasurable, if Guinness says he is, and you're asked who Guinness claims is the most successful director, than there is a correct answer, even if it's unmeasurable.

[TheConfessor]

Ken Jennings blogged about the Peter Neilsen mystery today. Like everyone here, he has more questions than answers.
http://ken-jennings.com/blog/archives/3788

I talked to an IBM friend who worked with Peter about 8 or 9 years ago. He said Peter was a very interesting and nice guy, but never mentioned his Jeopardy experience.

[Mr Anse Bundren]

Hi, I was just stumbled on this page while out and about on the internet. It's the same Peter Nielsen. He was my high school geometry teacher in Austin when he went on Jeopardy. He went to work for IBM a year or two after he was on the show. From what I've heard from old classmates he passed away in 2005. He was fairly young.