David Kessler, stage manager of the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, took a statistical wander through the archives of the 24/7 Lectures. These little lectures happen as part of the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony.
In each 24/7 Lecture, one of the world’s great thinkers explains their topic twice:
- First, a complete, technical description, in 24 seconds
- Then, a clear summary that anyone can understand, in 7 words
Kessler’s findings:
- First 24/7 Lecture: 2001 (Prof. Margo Seltzer on the topic of “Computers”)
- Total 24/7 Lectures: 114
- How many of them required the Time keeper to stop them: 53
- How many of them stopped before the Timekeeper stopped them: 61
- Average number of words used in the 7-word part: 7.436364
- Detail on this: 3 people used 6 words, 6 people used 8 words, 1 person used 9 words, 1 used 14 words, 1 used 15 words, …and 1 answered using only musical notes (but offered an alternate 7 word description, so I call that 7 for calculating totals)
- How many of the Lectures given by Nobel Laureates: 26
- How many of the Lectures given by a woman: 62
- How many of the Lectures given by a man: 54
- Other Related Lectures/Talks given during an Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony: At least 24 Heisenberg Certainty Lectures (1995-99); Nano Lectures, 2007 (2 lectures); 2 Inertia Debates (2006); 4 Micro Lectures (1999)
Coming Attraction: New 24/7s
Four new 24/7 Lectures will be given as part of the 36th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, on Thursday, September 3, 2026, at Kongresshaus in Zurich, Switzerland.