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List Of Ig Nobel Prize Winners
This is a list of Ig Nobel Prize winners from 1991 to the present day. A parody of the Nobel Prizes, the Ig Nobel Prizes are awarded each year in mid-September, 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". Commenting on the 2006 awards, Marc Abrahams, editor of '' Annals of Improbable Research'' and co-sponsor of the awards, said that " e prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative, and spur people's interest in science, medicine, and technology". All prizes are awarded for real achievements, except for three in 1991 and one in 1994, due to an erroneous press release. 1991 * Biology – Robert Klark Graham, selector of seeds and prophet of propagation, for his pioneering development of the Repository for Germinal Choice, a sperm bank that accepts donations only from Nobellians and Olympians. * Chemistry – Jacques Benveniste, prolific prosely ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ig Nobel Prize
The Ig Nobel Prize ( ) is a satiric prize awarded annually since 1991 to celebrate ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. Its aim is to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." The name of the award is a pun on the Nobel Prize, which it parodies, and on the word '' ignoble'' ("not noble"). Organized by the scientific humor magazine, '' Annals of Improbable Research'' (AIR), the Ig Nobel Prizes are presented by Nobel laureates in a ceremony at the Sanders Theater, Harvard University, and are followed by the winners' public lectures at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. History The Ig Nobels were created in 1991 by Marc Abrahams, editor and co-founder of the '' Annals of Improbable Research'', a former editor-in-chief of the ''Journal of Irreproducible Results'' who has been master of ceremonies at all awards ceremonies. Awards were presented at that time for discoveries "that cannot, or should not, be reproduce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parody
A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subject is an original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, etc), but a parody can also be about a real-life person (e.g. a politician), event, or movement (e.g. the French Revolution or 1960s counterculture). Literary scholar Professor Simon Dentith defines parody as "any cultural practice which provides a relatively polemical allusive imitation of another cultural production or practice". The literary theorist Linda Hutcheon said "parody ... is imitation, not always at the expense of the parodied text." Parody may be found in art or culture, including literature, music, theater, television and film, animation, and gaming. Some parody is practiced in theater. The writer and critic John Gross observes in his ''Oxfor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dan Quayle
James Danforth Quayle (; born February 4, 1947) is an American politician who served as the 44th vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993 under President George H. W. Bush. A member of the Republican Party, Quayle served as a U.S. senator from Indiana from 1981 to 1989 and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Indiana's 4th district from 1977 to 1981. A native of Indianapolis, Quayle spent most of his childhood in Paradise Valley, a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona. He married Marilyn Tucker in 1972 and obtained his J.D. degree from the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in 1974. He and Marilyn practiced law in Huntington, Indiana, before his election to the United States House of Representatives in 1976. In 1980, he was elected to the U.S. Senate. In 1988, vice president and Republican presidential nominee George H. W. Bush chose Quayle as his running mate. His vice presidential debate against Lloyd Bentsen was notable for the " S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buckyball (molecule)
Buckminsterfullerene is a type of fullerene with the formula C60. It has a cage-like fused-ring structure (truncated icosahedron) made of twenty hexagons and twelve pentagons, and resembles a soccer ball. Each of its 60 carbon atoms is bonded to its three neighbors. Buckminsterfullerene is a black solid that dissolves in hydrocarbon solvents to produce a violet solution. The compound was discovered in 1985 and has received intense study, although few real world applications have been found. Occurrence Buckminsterfullerene is the most common naturally occurring fullerene. Small quantities of it can be found in soot. It also exists in space. Neutral C60 has been observed in planetary nebulae and several types of star. The ionised form, C60+, has been identified in the interstellar medium, where it is the cause of several absorption features known as diffuse interstellar bands in the near-infrared. History Theoretical predictions of buckyball molecules appeared in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul DeFanti
Paul DeFanti is the fictional recipient of the 1991 Ig Nobel Prize in the area of Pedestrian Technology "for his invention of the Buckybonnet, a geodesic fashion structure that pedestrians wear to protect their heads and preserve their composure." This makes him one of only three fictional people to have won the award. DeFanti supposedly demonstrated his Buckminster Fulleresque invention at the awards ceremony. According to Bill Jackson at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...: :There was a "spontaneous" demonstration of the device's effectiveness when a rather attractive woman stormed into the room, accompanied by a police officer. The woman declared that DeFanti had fathered her child. She attempted to hit him, but the Bucky ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crackpot (person)
{{Short pages monitor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Josiah S
Josiah ( or ) or Yoshiyahu; la, Iosias was the 16th king of Judah (–609 BCE) who, according to the Hebrew Bible, instituted major religious reforms by removing official worship of gods other than Yahweh. Josiah is credited by most biblical scholars with having established or compiled important Hebrew scriptures during the "Deuteronomic reform" which probably occurred during his rule. Josiah became king of the Kingdom of Judah at the age of eight, after the assassination of his father, King Amon. Josiah reigned for 31 years, from 641/640 to 610/609 BCE. Josiah is known only from biblical texts; no reference to him exists in other surviving texts of the period from Egypt or Babylon, and no clear archaeological evidence, such as inscriptions bearing his name, has ever been found. Nevertheless, most scholars believe that he existed historically and that the absence of documents is due to few documents of any sort surviving from this period, and to Jerusalem having been occupied, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Tech (newspaper)
''The Tech'', first published on November 16, 1881, is the campus newspaper at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Editions are published on Thursdays throughout the academic year and about once a month over the summer. ''The Tech'' established an early presence on the World Wide Web, and continues to publish online in tandem with the print edition.Kristina Grifantini"The Tech, Then and Now" ''MIT Technology Review'', June 23, 2008. Organization ''The Tech'' is a completely student-managed, and largely student-written publication, officially recognized as a student activity by the administration of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The newspaper is largely self-supporting financially, deriving most of its income from advertising. The publication has an advisory board composed primarily of ex-staffers who are alumni of MIT. Print edition Printed copies are distributed throughout the MIT campus on the morning of publication. Since Febr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strategic Defense Initiative
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), derisively nicknamed the "''Star Wars'' program", was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons ( intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles). The concept was announced on March 23, 1983, by President Ronald Reagan,Federation of American ScientistsMissile Defense Milestones Accessed March 10, 2007. a vocal critic of the doctrine of mutually assured destruction (MAD), which he described as a "suicide pact". Reagan called upon American scientists and engineers to develop a system that would render nuclear weapons obsolete. The Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) was set up in 1984 within the US Department of Defense to oversee development. A wide array of advanced weapon concepts, including lasers, Duarte, F. J. (Ed.), ''Proceedings of the International Conference on Lasers '87'' (STS, McLean, Va, 1988). parti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hydrogen Bomb
A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lower mass, or a combination of these benefits. Characteristics of nuclear fusion reactions make possible the use of non-fissile depleted uranium as the weapon's main fuel, thus allowing more efficient use of scarce fissile material such as uranium-235 () or plutonium-239 (). The Ivy Mike, first full-scale thermonuclear test was carried out by the United States in 1952; the concept has since been employed by most of the world's List of states with nuclear weapons, nuclear powers in the design of their weapons. Modern fusion weapons consist essentially of two main components: a nuclear fission primary stage (fueled by or ) and a separate nuclear fusion secondary stage containing thermonuclear fuel: the heavy hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Teller
Edward Teller ( hu, Teller Ede; January 15, 1908 – September 9, 2003) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist who is known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb" (see the Teller–Ulam design), although he did not care for the title, considering it to be in poor taste. Throughout his life, Teller was known both for his scientific ability and for his difficult interpersonal relations and volatile personality. Born in Hungary in 1908, Teller emigrated to the United States in the 1930s, one of the many so-called "Martians", a group of prominent Hungarian scientist émigrés. He made numerous contributions to nuclear and molecular physics, spectroscopy (in particular the Jahn–Teller and Renner–Teller effects), and surface physics. His extension of Enrico Fermi's theory of beta decay, in the form of Gamow–Teller transitions, provided an important stepping stone in its application, while the Jahn–Teller effect and the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beano (dietary Supplement)
Beano is an enzyme-based dietary supplement that is used to reduce gas in the digestive tract, thereby improving digestion and reducing bloating, discomfort, and flatulence caused by gas. It contains the enzyme alpha-galactosidase (α-GAL). It was introduced as a liquid, but that has been discontinued and it is now available only as tablets and strawberry-flavored "Meltaways". Beano is marketed and distributed by Prestige Brands Holdings, Inc. Mechanism of action Beano contains the enzyme α-GAL, which is derived from the fungus ''Aspergillus niger''. The enzyme works in the digestive tract to break down the complex or branching sugars (polysaccharides and oligosaccharides) in foods such as legumes ( beans and peanuts) and cruciferous vegetables ( cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, and brussels sprouts, among others). The enzyme breaks those complex sugars into simple sugars, making these foods somewhat more digestible, and reducing intestinal gas. The polysaccharides and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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