New Paltz’s Francois Barcomb advances to finals in Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions

Francois Barcomb of New Paltz continued his Jeopardy triumph last night, winning his semifinal match in the Tournament of Champions.

The final Jeopardy clue was:

In a 1644 letter he wrote, “We live submerged at the bottom of an ocean of air”, which is what his invention measures.

Got it?

Ok…

We’ll give you the answer in

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(Don’t forget to phrase your answer in the form of question.)

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If you said “Who is Evangelista Torricelli?” (the inventor of the barometer) you are correct!

New Paltz’s Francois Barcomb was the lone contestant in last night’s Jeopardy semifinal to give that answer. (Or is it question?) He’ll move on to the two-day finals to battle for the $250,000 grand prize. The first episode airs on ABC (channel 7 on Spectrum) tomorrow at 7 p.m., and the tournament wraps up the following night.

Barcomb, a physics teacher at Hendrick Hudson High School in Westchester County, was crowned Teachers Tournament champion on the episode that aired May 17, securing the top prize of $100,000.