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The Ig Nobel Prizes are a parody of the Nobel Prizes and are given each year in early October — around the time the recipients of the genuine Nobel Prizes are announced — for ten achievements that "first make people laugh, and then make them think." Organized by the scientific humor journal Annals of Improbable Research (AIR), they are presented by a group that includes genuine Nobel Laureates at a ceremony at Harvard University's Sanders Theater. Image File history File links Frog_diamagnetic_levitation. ...
Image File history File links Frog_diamagnetic_levitation. ...
Levitating pyrolytic carbon Magnetic levitation, maglev, or magnetic suspension is a method by which an object is suspended above another object with no support other than magnetic fields. ...
The Radboud University Nijmegen, formerly called University of Nijmegen is the university of the Dutch city of Nijmegen. ...
Sir Michael (Victor) Berry, born 14 March 1941, is a mathematical physicist at the University of Bristol. ...
The University of Bristol was founded in 1876 as the University College, Bristol. ...
Parody of Back to the Future In contemporary usage, a parody is a work that imitates another work in order to ridicule, ironically comment on, or poke some affectionate fun at the work itself, the subject of the work, the author or fictional voice of the parody, or another subject. ...
Nobel Prize medal. ...
The Annals of Improbable Research (AIR) is a monthly magazine devoted to scientific humour, in the form of a satirical take on the standard academic journal. ...
The Nobel Prizes (pronounced no-BELL or no-bell) are awarded annually to people who have done outstanding research, invented groundbreaking techniques or equipment, or made outstanding contributions to society. ...
Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) , is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Founded in 1636,[1] Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning still operating in the United States. ...
Sanders Theater or Sanders Theatre is the premiere lecture and concert hall at Harvard University. ...
The first Ig Nobels were awarded in 1991, at that time for discoveries "that cannot, or should not, be reproduced." Ten prizes are awarded each year in many categories, including the Nobel Prize categories of physics, chemistry, physiology/medicine, literature, and peace, but also other categories such as public health, engineering, biology, and interdisciplinary research.
With the exception of three prizes in the first year (see Administratium, Josiah Carberry, and Paul DeFanti), the Ig Nobel Prizes are for genuine achievements. (See List of Ig Nobel Prize winners) This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
Josiah Stinkney Carberry is a fictional professor, created as a joke. ...
In 1991, Paul DeFanti received the Ig Nobel Pedestrian Technology Prize for the invention of the Buckybonnet, a Buckminster Fulleresque geodesic fashion structure that pedestrians wear to protect their heads and preserve their composure. ...
This is a list of Ig Nobel Prize winners from 1992 to the present day. ...
The awards are sometimes veiled criticism, as in the two awards given for homeopathy research, prizes in "science education" to Kansas and Colorado state boards of education for their stance regarding the teaching of evolution, and the prize awarded to Social Text after the Sokal Affair. Most often, however, they draw attention to scientific articles that have some funny or unexpected aspect. Examples range from the discovery that the presence of humans tends to sexually arouse ostriches, to the statement that black holes fulfill all the technical requirements to be the location of Hell, to research on the "five-second rule," a tongue-in-cheek belief that food dropped on the floor won't become contaminated if it is picked up within five seconds. It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles. ...
Social Text is a postmodernist cultural studies journal published by Duke University Press. ...
The Sokal Affair was a hoax by physicist Alan Sokal on the editorial staff and readership of a leading journal in the academic humanities. ...
Human beings are defined variously in biological, spiritual, and cultural terms, or in combinations thereof. ...
Binomial name Struthio camelus Linnaeus, 1758 The present-day distribution of ostriches. ...
A black hole is an object predicted by general relativity,[1] with a gravitational field so powerful that even electromagnetic radiation (such as light) cannot escape its pull. ...
Medieval illustration of Hell in the Hortus deliciarum manuscript of Herrad of Landsberg (about 1180) A hell, according to many religious beliefs, is an afterlife of suffering where the wicked or unrighteous dead are punished. ...
This article does not cite its references or sources. ...
Name
The name is a play on the word "ignoble" and the name "Nobel" after Alfred Nobel. The official pronunciation used during the ceremony is "ig no-BELL" (IPA: ɪg nəʊ bɛl) it is not pronounced like the word "ig-noble" (ig-NOH-buhl, IPA: /ɪgˈnoʊbəl/) — but this distinction eludes many people. (October 21, 1833, Stockholm, Sweden—December 10, 1896, Sanremo, Italy) was a Swedish chemist, engineer, innovator, armaments manufacturer and the inventor of dynamite. ...
Ceremony The prizes are presented by genuine Nobel Laureates, originally at a ceremony in a lecture hall at MIT, but now in Harvard University's Sanders Theatre. The ceremony is followed a few days later by the Ig Informal Lectures at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in which laureates have the opportunity to explain their achievements and their relevance to the general public. If such explanations become too longwinded, they are interrupted by the cries of Miss Sweety Poo (or Sweety-Poo), a little girl who repeatedly cries out "Please stop. I'm bored" in a high-pitched voice. [1] Mapúa Institute of Technology (MIT, MapúaTech or simply Mapúa) is a private, non-sectarian, Filipino tertiary institute located in Intramuros, Manila. ...
Sanders Theater or Sanders Theatre is the premiere lecture and concert hall at Harvard University. ...
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private, coeducational research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ...
The ceremony is co-sponsored by the Harvard Computer Society, the Harvard-Radcliffe Science Fiction Association, and the Harvard-Radcliffe Society of Physics Students. Abbreviated HRSFA, the HARVARD-RADCLIFFE SCIENCE FICTION ASSOCIATION is a society based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ...
Tours and outreach The ceremony is recorded and broadcast on National Public Radio and is shown live over the Internet. The recording is broadcast every year, on the Friday after U.S. Thanksgiving, on the public radio program Science Friday. In recognition of this, it is a tradition at the ceremony for the audience to repeatedly chant the first name of the radio show's host, Ira Flatow. Offical NPR logo National Public Radio (NPR) is an independent, private, non-profit membership organization of public radio stations in the United States. ...
Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is an annual one-day holiday to give thanks, traditionally to God, for the things one has at the end of the harvest season. ...
Science Friday is a call-in talk show that is part of National Public Radios Talk of the Nation radio program hosted by Ira Flatow every Friday. ...
Ira Flatow (born March 9, 1949) is a radio and television personality who hosts National Public Radios popular Talk of the Nation - Science Friday. ...
Two books have been published as of 2006 with write ups on some of the winners: The Ig Nobel Prize (2002, US paperback ISBN 0-452-28573-9, UK paperback ISBN 0-7528-4261-7) and The Ig Nobel Prize 2 (2005, US hardcover ISBN 0-525-94912-7, UK hardcover ISBN 0-7528-6461-0). 2006 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
An Ig Nobel Tour has traveled to Britain several times, and to Australia.
Criticism In 1995, Robert May, Baron May of Oxford, the chief scientific adviser to the British government, requested that the organizers no longer award Ig Nobel prizes to British scientists, claiming that the awards risked bringing "genuine" experiments into ridicule. However, many British researchers dismissed Lord May's pronouncements, and the British journal Chemistry and Industry in particular printed an article refuting his arguments. Robert McCredie Bob May, Baron May of Oxford, OM, AC, FRS (born 8 January 1936 in Australia) is a cross-bench member of the British House of Lords and was President of the Royal Society from 2000 to 2005. ...
Trivia - Throwing paper airplanes onto the stage was a long-standing tradition at the Ig Nobels, changed at the 2006 ceremony due to "security concerns." In past years, physics professor Roy Glauber has swept the stage clean of the airplanes as the official "Keeper of the Broom". In 2005, Glauber could not attend the awards as he was traveling to Stockholm to claim a genuine Nobel Prize in physics.
- The "Parade of Ignitaries" brings various supporting groups into the hall. A group formed to educate on issues regarding "Safe Sex at Zero Kelvin" attended one ceremony; delegates from the Museum of Bad Art are often on hand to display some pieces from their collection, showing that bad art and bad science go hand in hand.
- Actor Russell Johnson, known for his character on the TV series "Gilligan's Island", once participated in the award presentation ceremony as "The Professor Emeritus of Gilligan's Island".
- The awards ceremony is traditionally closed with the words: "If you didn't win a prize − and especially if you did − better luck next year!"
Diagram of a traditional paper plane. ...
Roy Jay Glauber (born 1925) is the Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics at Harvard University. ...
(IPA: ; UN/LOCODE: SE STO) is the capital of Sweden, and consequently the site of its Government and Parliament as well as the residence of the Swedish head of state, King Carl XVI Gustaf. ...
Absolute zero is the lowest possible temperature where nothing could be colder, and no heat energy remains in a substance. ...
Lucy in the Field with Flowers, the Mona Lisa of MOBAs collection. ...
Russell Johnson as The Professor on Gilligans Island Russell David Johnson (born November 10, 1924, in Ashley, Pennsylvania), is an American television and film actor best known as The Professor on the CBS television sitcom Gilligans Island. ...
For the NES video game, see Gilligans Island (video game). ...
Emeritus (IPA pronunciation: or ) is an adjective that is used in the title of a retired professor, bishop or other professional. ...
See also
Other satiric prizes Razzie Award The Golden Raspberry Awards or Razzies, first awarded in 1981, were created by John Wilson in 1980, intended to complement the Academy Awards by dishonoring the worst acting, screenwriting, songwriting, directing, and films that the film industry had to offer. ...
The Darwin Awards website logo A Darwin Award is a tongue-in-cheek honor given to people who supposedly improve the human gene pool as part of the natural-selection process by accidentally killing or sterilizing themselves during a foolish or careless mistake. ...
The Pigasus Award is the name of an annual tongue-in-cheek honor recognized by noted skeptic James Randi. ...
The Bent Spoon Award is an award given by Australian Skeptics. ...
The Stella Awards are named after a woman named Stella Liebeck who, in 1992, spilled a cup of McDonalds coffee onto her lap, burning herself. ...
External links - Ig Nobel home page
- List of past winners, with reasons for prize
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