Vikram Joshi (2 February 1977 – 14 April 2018) was an Indian quizzer and quizmaster who won the

World Quizzing Championship The World Quizzing Championships is an individual quiz contest organised by the International Quizzing Association (the umbrella organisation of various quizzing activities from more than 25 countries around the world). The competition has been s ...

(WQC) 2014. He was the first winner who wasn't based in England. In the 2013 contest, he stood 9th. In the 2015 contest, he came 42nd. Named after the scientist

Vikram Sarabhai Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai (12 August 1919 – 30 December 1971) was an Indian physicist and astronomer who initiated space research and helped to develop nuclear power in India. Often regarded as the "''Father of Indian space program''", Sar ...

, Joshi was born and raised in a scholarly

Konkani __NOTOC__ Konkani may refer to: Language * Konkani language is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Konkan region of India. * Konkani alphabets, different scripts used to write the language **Konkani in the Roman script, one of the scripts used to ...

Saraswat family based in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. Academically meritorious throughout, he studied

Instrumentation Engineering Instrumentation is a collective term for measuring instruments, used for indicating, measuring, and recording physical quantities. It is also a field of study about the art and science about making measurement instruments, involving the related ...

at Vivekanand Education Society's Institute of Technology (VESIT), followed by a master’s in Computer Science Engineering at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

. Soon after he worked at

Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc., often known as Sun for short, was an American technology company that existed from 1982 to 2010 which developed and sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services. Sun contributed sig ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

before returning to India, where he worked as a creative media professional. After his WQC win, Joshi appeared in the eighth season of

Kaun Banega Crorepati ''Kaun Banega Crorepati'' (simply ''KBC''; English: ''Who Will Become a Crorepati'') is an Indian Hindi-language television game show. It is the official Hindi adaptation of the '' Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' franchise. It is presented ...

(an Indian television game show based on

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (WWTBAM) is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and licensed by Sony Pictures Televis ...

) as one of the experts on the 'Triguni' lifeline (similar to the Three Wise Men lifeline on the US edition) Joshi had been a quizmaster on several university quizzes, including ones at

IIT Bombay The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT- Bombay or IIT-B) is a Public university, public research university and Institute of technology, technical institute in Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. IIT Bombay is mainly known for the hig ...

, IIT BHU, and

IIM Indore Indian Institute of Management Indore (often abbreviated as IIM-I) is an autonomous public business school located in Indore, Madhya Pradesh in India. Founded in 1996, IIM Indore is the sixth institute in the Indian Institute of Management ( ...

. In 2018, he hosted the first National Elections Quiz conducted by the

Election Commission of India The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body established by Constitution of India, the Constitution of the Republic of India empowered to conduct free and fair elections in the Republic of India. It is headed by a Chief Ele ...

. Joshi was first diagnosed with

lymphatic cancer Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). The name typically refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlarged lymph node ...

in 2011. He died on 14 April 2018.

References

Quiz championship players 1977 births 2018 deaths Sportspeople from Mumbai University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni Game players from Maharashtra {{India-sport-bio-stub