After years of trying, a Newtown Square data scientist finally got his chance to be on Jeopardy!

But the woman standing next to him was quick on the buzzer.

Julia Collins, Dilip Rajagopalan and Donna Innes

My husband, Dilip, is the kind of guy who knows what occurred in 1066 (the Norman conquest of England), but is flummoxed when it comes to recalling the movie we saw a few months ago (American Hustle). He’s a trivia man.

So, of course, he has tried for years to get on Jeopardy!, that Super Bowl of trivia enthusiasts. Ever since he came from India to the United States to study chemical engineering 25-plus years ago, he has lusted after a meet-up with Alex Trebek. It is, after all, the ultimate badge of clever. 

To help him, I did what any good wife would do. I nagged. “You should study,” I said. He wouldn’t do it. He took pride in acing the test to make the cut on what he already knew, through osmosis.

More than once, we drove the Atlantic City Expressway to take a 10-question “gamble” in the lobby of a cheesy casino. I say we, because back then I thought I knew a thing or two. Turns out, that’s exactly how many I got right. Dilip usually did better, but, alas, never good enough.

He kept at it, but he’d leave the tryouts disappointed, with only a lousy Jeopardy! pen. The ultimate downer: A Jeopardy! staffer once mentioned that Wheel of Fortune was looking for contestants in the next room. All the Jeopardy! wannabes groaned.

Then, one day a few years ago, he got the call to come to New York for an in-person test and audition — step two after passing an online test. When the Big Apple visit went bust, he was ready to quit. But I cheered him on — as vested in his success as in our son’s wins and losses on the tennis courts.

Last year, he reluctantly gave it one more try, just to appease me. Again, he got to New York. And this time, he got a call a few months later, inviting him to a taping in L.A. He’d made it! We jumped up and down as if we’d won the Match Six Lotto. 

Then came the real challenge — picking out three outfits (no yellows, no busy ties) that didn’t clash with the blue-and-purple set. Guess who was smart enough to know the answer to that one.

In L.A. — no, Jeopardy! does not pay to fly you out — Dilip soon realized he was among the hardcore. On the shuttle ride to the Sony Pictures set, contestants started matching wits on the ’80s hits playing on the radio. Uh-oh. 

When his turn came to compete on the show, he knew he needed a bit of luck. He’s deepest in categories about history, geography, science and international current events. Not so good on pop culture.

As I watched from the audience with butterflies, he struggled in Round One with “Food-Titled Books,” “Top 40 Debuts,” and “On My Hands.” Double Jeopardy was more to his liking, except for the “Wit and Wisdom of W.C. Fields.” He came in third, winning $1,000. 

Back home, though, he was a mini-celebrity, despite his best efforts to downplay expectations. Even after the episode aired on April 22 — which he dubbed his “crash and burn” — the fact that he even made the show impressed our friends. It has helped to see Julia Collins, who won his segment, go on to become the winningest woman so far on Jeopardy! As of Friday, she was still the champion.

So, it’s official. Dilip’s a smart one. But I know the flavors of the ice creams we ordered on an early date in 1986 at a Baskin-Robbins in Evanston, Ill.