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 organisations from more than 25 countries around the world). The competition has bee ...

(WQC) 2014. He was the first winner who wasn't based in England. In the 2013 contest, he stood 9th. 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 develop nuclear power in India. He was honoured with Padma Bhushan in 1966 and the Padma Vibhushan ...

, Joshi was born and raised in a scholarly Konkani Saraswat family based in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. Academically meritorious throughout, he studied

Instrumentation Engineering Instrumentation a collective term for measuring instruments that are used for indicating, measuring and recording physical quantities. The term has its origins in the art and science of scientific instrument-making. Instrumentation can refer to ...

Vivekanand Education Society's Institute of Technology Vivekanand Education Society's Institute of Technology, also known as VESIT or V. E. S. Institute of Technology, was established in 1984 as an engineering college affiliated with the University of Mumbai. Campus The campus is located in Hars ...

(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. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

. Soon after he worked at

Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun for short) was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, the ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

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'' (also simply known as ''KBC'') is an Indian Hindi-language television game show. It is the official Hindi adaptation of the ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' franchise. It has been presented by actor Amitabh Bachchan ...

(an Indian television game show based on

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (often informally called ''Millionaire'') 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 ...

) 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 IITB) is a public research university and technical institute in Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is considered as one of the best engineering universities in India and is top rank ...

IIT BHU Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi (IIT BHU) is a Public university, public technical university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1919 as the Banaras Engineering college, Engineering College, it became the Institu ...

, and IIM Indore. 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. It was established by the Constitution of India to conduct and regulate elections in the country. Article 324 of the Constitution provides that the power of superintendence, di ...

. 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). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlar ...

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