Beryl Benderly, in her Science Careers Blog for Science magazine, looks into the question. Here’s how she begins [to read her entire essay, click on the link]:
Winning an important scientific prize doesn’t just acknowledge outstanding work. Often, it also gives a matchless boost to the recipient’s career and reputation. This week, for example, the world’s attention is riveted on the announcement of the Nobel Prizes, the incomparable honors that propel scientists to the top rung of prestige and recognition.
Last week, on the other hand, media around the world (including our sister blog, Science Insider) covered the awarding of a rather less coveted — but much more comical — set of prizes, the IgNobels, which annually honor — if that’s the word — science “that makes people laugh, and then makes them think.”
Well, they got us thinking, too. Specifically, since we’re Science Careers, we wondered what winning a spoof award does to the career prospects of recipients, a number of whom, we noticed, are quite early in their careers. Do tenure and promotion committees look with favor on a publication that garnered the authors and their institution world-wide attention for being, well, downright laughable? Or do they recoil in horror from a piece of work that might be taken, at first at least, as, er, exceptionally frivolous? Or do they just take the dignified approach of ignoring the whole thing? …
