From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ig Nobel Prize
Ig Nobel Prize
garding 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
humorous or unexpected aspect. Examples range from
the discovery that the presence of humans tends to sex-
ually 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 will not be-
come contaminated if it is picked up within five seconds.
In 2010, Andre Geim became the first person to re-
ceive both the Nobel and an individual Ig Nobel
prize.[1][2]
Name
The name is a play on the word ignoble ("characterized
A live frog is magnetically levitated, an experiment that earned by baseness, lowness, or meanness") and the name "No-
Andre Geim from the University of Nijmegen and Sir Michael bel" after Alfred Nobel. The official pronunciation used
Berry from University of Bristol the 2000 Ig Nobel Prize in during the ceremony is /ˌɪɡnoʊˈbɛl/ "ig-no-bell". It is not
physics. Geim went on to win the Nobel Prize for Physics in pronounced like the word "ignoble" (/ɪɡˈnoʊbəl/).
2010 for his work on graphene.
The Ig Nobel Prizes are an American parody of the
Ceremony
Nobel Prizes and are given each year in early October The prizes are presented by genuine Nobel laureates,
for ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific re- originally at a ceremony in a lecture hall at MIT but now
search. The stated aim of the prizes is to "first make peo- in Sanders Theater at Harvard University. It contains a
ple laugh, and then make them think". Organized by the number of running jokes, including Miss Sweetie Poo,
scientific humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research a little girl who repeatedly cries out, "Please stop: I’m
(AIR), they are presented by a group that includes Nobel bored," in a high-pitched voice if speakers go on too
Laureates at a ceremony at Harvard University’s Sanders long.[3] The awards ceremony is traditionally closed with
Theater, and they are followed by a set of public lectures the words: "If you didn’t win a prize — and especially if
by the winners at MIT. you did — better luck next year!"
The ceremony is co-sponsored by the Harvard Com-
puter Society, the Harvard-Radcliffe Science Fiction As-
History sociation and the Harvard-Radcliffe Society of Physics
The first Ig Nobels were awarded in 1991, at that time for Students.
discoveries "that cannot, or should not, be reproduced". Throwing paper airplanes onto the stage was a long-
Ten prizes are awarded each year in many categories, in- standing tradition at the Ig Nobels, changed at the 2006
cluding the Nobel Prize categories of physics, chemistry, ceremony because of "security concerns".[citation needed]
physiology/medicine, literature, and peace, but also oth- In past years, physics professor Roy Glauber has swept
er categories such as public health, engineering, biolo- the stage clean of the airplanes as the official "Keeper of
gy, and interdisciplinary research. With the exception of the Broom". However, Glauber could not attend the 2005
three prizes in the first year (Administratium, Josiah Car- awards – he was traveling to Stockholm to claim a gen-
berry, and Paul DeFanti), the Ig Nobel Prizes are for gen- uine Nobel Prize in Physics.
uine achievements. The "Parade of Ignitaries" brings various supporting
The awards are sometimes veiled criticism (or gentle groups into the hall. At the 1997 ceremonies, a team of
satire), as in the two awards given for homeopathy re- "cryogenic sex researchers" distributed a pamphlet titled
search, prizes in "science education" to the Kansas and "Safe Sex at Four Kelvin". Delegates from the Museum of
Colorado state boards of education for their stance re- Bad Art are often on hand to display some pieces from
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ig Nobel Prize
their collection, showing that bad art and bad science go that the malaria mosquito (Anopheles gambiae) is attracted
hand in hand. equally to the smell of Limburger cheese and the smell
of human feet[6] earned the Ig Nobel Prize in the area of
Outreach biology. As a direct result of these findings traps baited
with this cheese have been utilized in strategic locations
The ceremony is recorded and broadcast on National in some parts of Africa to combat the epidemic of malar-
Public Radio and is shown live over the Internet. The ia.[7][8]
recording is broadcast every year, on the Friday after U.S.
Thanksgiving, on the public radio program Science Friday.
In recognition of this, the audience chants the first name
See also
of the radio show’s host, Ira Flatow. • List of Ig Nobel Prize winners
Two books have been published as of 3 September • Golden Raspberry Award – A similar award for
2009 (2009 -09-03) with write-ups on some of the win- movies.
ners: 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
References
0-525-94912-7, UK hardcover ISBN 0-7528-6461-0), which [1] Overbye, Dennis (October 5, 2010). "Physics Nobel
was later retitled The Man Who Tried to Clone Himself (ISBN Honors Work on Ultra-Thin Carbon". New York
0-452-28772-3). Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/
An Ig Nobel Tour has been an annual part of National science/06nobel.html. Retrieved October 5, 2010.
Science week in the United Kingdom since 2003.[4] The [2] Ig Nobel announcement about Geim
tour has also traveled to Australia several times, Aarhus [3] The Guardian: "Infinity and so much more".
University in Denmark in April 2009, Italy and The [4] "UK Tour". http://improbable.com/improbable-
Netherlands. research-shows/ig-uk-tour/.
[5] "A Noble Side to the Ig Nobels," The National,
September 26, 2009
Reception [6] Knols BG (November 1996). "On human odour,
In 1995, Robert May, Baron May of Oxford, the chief sci- malaria mosquitoes, and Limburger". Lancet 348
entific adviser to the British government, requested that (9037): 1322. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)65812-6.
the organizers no longer award Ig Nobel prizes to British PMID 8909415.
scientists, claiming that the awards risked bringing gen- [7] Ig Nobel Prize list of past winners
uine experiments into ridicule. Many British researchers [8] Knols, B. G. J.; R. De Jong, R. (April 1996).
dismissed Lord May’s pronouncements, and the British "Limburger cheese as an attractant for the malaria
journal Chemistry & Industry in particular printed an arti- mosquito Anopheles gambiae s.s.". Parasitology Today
cle rebutting his arguments. 12 (4): 159–161. doi:10.1016/0169-4758(96)10002-8.
A September 2009 article in The National, titled "A no-
ble side to Ig Nobels," says that although the Ig Nobel
Awards are veiled criticism of trivial research, history
External links
shows that trivial research sometimes leads to important • Ig Nobel home page
breakthroughs.[5] For instance, in 2006 a study showing • List of past winners, with reasons for prize
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ig_Nobel_Prize&oldid=461446946"
Categories:
• Ironic and humorous awards
• Awards by Harvard University
• Awards established in 1991
• Professional humor
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