The Ig Nobel Prize ( ) is a
satiric
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or ...
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
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
, 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
Memorial Hall, immediately north of Harvard Yard in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is an imposing High Victorian Gothic building honoring Harvard men's sacrifices in defense of the Union during the American Civil War"a symbol of Boston's commitment ...
,
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
, and are followed by the winners' public lectures 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 ...
.
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
The ''Journal of Irreproducible Results'' is a magazine of science humor. It was established in Israel in 1955 by virologist Alexander Kohn and physicist Harry J. Lipkin, who wanted a humor magazine about science, for scientists. It contains a ...
'' who has been master of ceremonies at all awards ceremonies. Awards were presented 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. The Ig Nobel Prizes recognize genuine achievements, with the exception of three prizes awarded in the first year to fictitious scientists
Josiah S. Carberry,
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. ...
, and
Thomas Kyle.
The awards are sometimes criticism via satire, as in the two awards given for
homeopathy research, prizes in "science education" to the
and
Colorado State Board of Education
The Colorado State Board of Education is a government body in the U.S. state of Colorado tasked with "general supervision of public schools." It is composed of members elected from districts corresponding to Colorado's congressional districts †...
for their
stance regarding the
teaching of evolution, and the prize awarded to ''
Social Text
''Social Text'' is an academic journal published by Duke University Press. Since its inception by an independent editorial collective in 1979, ''Social Text'' has addressed a wide range of social and cultural phenomena, covering questions of gende ...
'' after the
Sokal affair. Most often, however, they draw attention to
scientific articles
: ''For a broader class of literature, see Academic publishing.''
Scientific literature comprises scholarly publications that report original empirical and theoretical work in the natural and social sciences. Within an academic field, scient ...
that have some humorous or unexpected aspect. Examples range from the discovery that the presence of humans tends to sexually arouse
ostrich
Ostriches are large flightless birds of the genus ''Struthio'' in the order Struthioniformes, part of the infra-class Palaeognathae, a diverse group of flightless birds also known as ratites that includes the emus, rheas, and kiwis. There ...
es, to the statement that
black holes fulfill all the technical requirements for being the location of Hell, to research on the "
five-second rule
The five-second rule, sometimes known as the three-second rule,(7 February 2006Getting the dirt of the 5-second rule ''Southeast Missourian'' is a food hygiene myth that states a defined time window where it is safe to pick up food (or sometim ...
", a tongue-in-cheek belief that food dropped on the floor will not become contaminated if it is picked up within five seconds.
Sir
Andre Geim, who had been awarded an Ig Nobel Prize in 2000 for levitating a frog by magnetism, was awarded a Nobel Prize in physics in 2010 for his work with the electromagnetic properties of
graphene
Graphene () is an allotrope of carbon consisting of a single layer of atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice nanostructure. . He is the only individual, as of 2021, to have received both a Nobel and an Ig Nobel.
Ceremony
The prizes are mostly presented by
Nobel laureates, originally at a ceremony in a lecture hall at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT but since 1994 in the
Sanders Theater
Memorial Hall, immediately north of Harvard Yard in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is an imposing High Victorian Gothic building honoring Harvard men's sacrifices in defense of the Union during the American Civil War"a symbol of Boston's commitment ...
at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
.
Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, 2020 and 2021's event was held fully online. The event contains a number of running jokes, including Miss Sweetie Poo, a little girl who repeatedly cries out, "Please stop: I'm bored", in a high-pitched voice if speakers go on too long.
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!"
The ceremony is co-sponsored by the Harvard Computer Society, the
Harvard–Radcliffe Science Fiction Association The Harvard–Radcliffe Science Fiction Association (HRSFA) is the undergraduate science fiction association at Harvard University. Founded in 1986, its purpose is to promote science fiction (and fantasy) and aid in activity of those interested in t ...
and the Harvard–Radcliffe Society of Physics Students.
Throwing
paper plane
A paper plane (also known as a paper airplane in American English or paper aeroplane in British English) is a toy aircraft, usually a glider made out of single folded sheet of paper or paperboard. A simple nose-heavy paper plane, thrown like ...
s onto the stage is a long-standing tradition. For many years Professor
Roy J. Glauber
Roy Jay Glauber (September 1, 1925 – December 26, 2018) was an American theoretical physicist. He was the Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics at Harvard University and Adjunct Professor of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona. Born in New ...
swept the stage clean of the airplanes as the official "Keeper of the Broom". Glauber could not attend the 2005 awards because he was traveling to Stockholm to claim a genuine
Nobel Prize in Physics
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...
.
The "Parade of Ignitaries" into the hall includes supporting groups. At the 1997 ceremonies, a team of "cryogenic sex researchers" distributed a pamphlet titled "Safe Sex at
Four Kelvin." Delegates from the
Museum of Bad Art
The Museum of Bad Art (MOBA) is a privately owned museum whose stated aim is "to celebrate the labor of artists whose work would be displayed and appreciated in no other forum". It was originally in Dedham, Massachusetts and is currently in Bo ...
are often on hand to display some pieces from their collection.
Outreach
The ceremony is recorded and broadcast on
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
in the US and is shown live over the Internet. The recording is broadcast each year, on the Friday after US
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden ...
, on the public radio program ''
Science Friday
''Science Friday'' (known as ''SciFri'' for short) is a weekly call-in talk show that broadcasts each Friday on public radio stations, distributed by WNYC Studios, and carried on over 400 public radio stations. ''SciFri'' is hosted by award-wi ...
''. In recognition of this, the audience chants the name of the radio show's host,
Ira Flatow
Ira Flatow (; born March 9, 1949) is a radio and television journalist and author who hosts Public Radio International's popular program '' Science Friday''. On TV, he hosted the Emmy Award-winning PBS series ''Newton's Apple'', a television sc ...
.
Two books have been published with write-ups on some winners: ''The Ig Nobel Prize'', and ''The Ig Nobel Prize 2'' which was later retitled ''The Man Who Tried to Clone Himself''.
An Ig Nobel Tour has been an annual part of National Science week in the United Kingdom since 2003. The tour has also traveled to Australia several times,
Aarhus University in Denmark in April 2009, Italy and The Netherlands.
Reception
A September 2009 article in ''
The National'' titled "A noble side to Ig Nobels" says that, although the Ig Nobel Awards are veiled criticism of trivial research, history shows that trivial research sometimes leads to important breakthroughs. For instance, in 2006, a study showing that one of the malaria
mosquito
Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...
es (''
Anopheles gambiae'') is attracted equally to the smell of
Limburger cheese
Limburger (in southern Dutch contexts Rommedoe, and in Belgium Herve cheese) is a cheese that originated in the Herve area of the historical Duchy of Limburg, which had its capital in Limbourg-sur-Vesdre, now in the French-speaking Belgian pr ...
and the smell of human feet earned the Ig Nobel Prize in the area of biology. As a direct result of these findings, traps baited with this cheese have been placed in strategic locations in some parts of Africa to combat the epidemic of malaria.
And
Andre Geim, before sharing the 2010
Nobel Prize in Physics
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...
for his research on
graphene
Graphene () is an allotrope of carbon consisting of a single layer of atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice nanostructure. , shared the Physics Ig Nobel in
List_of_Ig_Nobel_Prize_winners#2000, 2000 with
Michael Berry for the magnetic levitation of a frog, which by 2022 was reportedly part of the inspiration for China's
lunar gravity research facility.
See also
*
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 ach ...
*
Darwin Awards
The Darwin Awards are a tongue-in-cheek honor that originated in Usenet newsgroup discussions around 1985. They recognize individuals who have supposedly contributed to human evolution by selecting themselves out of the gene pool by dying or b ...
– an award for enriching the human gene pool by idiotic self-destruction
*
Golden Raspberry Awards
The Golden Raspberry Awards (also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards) is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic under-achievements. Co-founded by UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy, ...
– awards for bad movies
*
Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest
__NOTOC__
The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest (BLFC) is a tongue-in-cheek contest, held annually and sponsored by the English Department of San Jose State University in San Jose, California. Entrants are invited "to compose the opening sentence to th ...
– an award for bad writing
*
''Bookseller''/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year – a book prize
*
Pigasus Award
The Pigasus Award is the name of an annual tongue-in-cheek award that was presented by noted skeptic James Randi. The award seeks to expose parapsychological, paranormal or psychic frauds that Randi had noted over the previous year. Randi usua ...
– exposing parapsychological, paranormal, or psychic frauds
*
Golden Fleece Award – award for waste of government funds; often awarded for government-paid research considered frivolous or wasteful
*
Foot in Mouth Award
The Foot in Mouth Award is presented each year by the Plain English Campaign for "a baffling comment by a public figure". The award was first made in 1993, when it was given to Ted Dexter, the chairman of selectors for the England cricket team. I ...
– an award presented by the
Plain English Campaign
The Plain English Campaign (PEC) is a commercial editing and training firm based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1979 by Chrissie Maher, the company is a world leader in plain-language advocacy, working to persuade organisations in the UK and ...
for "a baffling comment by a public figure"
*
"British scientists" – Russian joke regarding absurd news reports about scientific discoveries
References
External links
*
Index to list of past winners*
{{Authority control
1991 establishments in the United States
Awards established in 1991
Harvard University
Ironic and humorous awards
Humour in science