Charl Fourie and Michelle Wong were awarded the 1999 Ig Nobel Peace Prize, for inventing an automobile burglar alarm consisting of a detection circuit and a flamethrower. (Patent WO/1999/032331, “A Security System for a Vehicle“) Now, in 2023, The South African news organization takes a look back at one of South Africa’s most spectacular but least financially rewarding inventions. […]
Category: Ig Nobel
News about the Ig Nobel Prizes — honoring achievements that make people LAUGH, then THINK.
Ritual Enema Scenes on Ancient Maya Pottery: 2022 Ig Informal Lecture
The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, then THINK. In the Ig Informal Lectures, some days after the ceremony, the new Ig Nobel Prize winners attempt to explain what they did, and why they did it. The 2022 Ig Nobel Prize for Economics was awarded to Peter de Smet and Nicholas Hellmuth, […]
Foot Note to Science History: Bill Lipscomb’s plaster left foot on display
Just stumbled across a big box of press clippings from the 90s. Here’s Bill Lipscomb with the plaster cast of his left foot on display. This article in the Harvard Gazette on October 2, 1997, says: IG NOBEL FEET: William N. Lipscomb, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry in 1976, holds his foot up against a display […]
Which Is More Important: Talent or Luck?: 2022 Ig Informal Lecture
The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, then THINK. In the Ig Informal Lectures, some days after the ceremony, the new Ig Nobel Prize winners attempt to explain what they did, and why they did it. The 2022 Ig Nobel Prize for Economics was awarded to Alessandro Pluchino, Alessio Emanuele Biondo, and […]
Vortex-Driven Ducklings: 2022 Ig Informal Lecture
The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, then THINK. In the Ig Informal Lectures, some days after the ceremony, the new Ig Nobel Prize winners attempt to explain what they did, and why they did it. The 2022 Ig Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded to Frank Fish, Zhi-Ming Yuan, Minglu Chen, […]
Wave-Riding Ducklings: 2022 Ig Informal Lecture
The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, then THINK. In the Ig Informal Lectures, some days after the ceremony, the new Ig Nobel Prize winners attempt to explain what they did, and why they did it. The 2022 Ig Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded to Frank Fish, Zhi-Ming Yuan, Minglu Chen, […]
‘Polarized World’ — Tombstones, Dragonflies, and Light
Here’s a teaser video for the film “Polarized World’: And some background info about it, from ELTE [Eötvös Loránd University, in Budapest]: TRICKED INSECTS – AND WHAT WE CAN DO FOR THEM In 2016, ELTE researchers received the prestigious Ig Nobel prize for physics for the funniest research of the year . The award-winning publication of Gábor Horváth and György Kriska asked […]
A Good Grasp of Knobs: 2022 Ig Informal Lecture
The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, then THINK. In the Ig Informal Lectures, some days after the ceremony, the new Ig Nobel Prize winners attempt to explain what they did, and why they did it. We are releasing these lectures one at a time. The 2022 Ig Nobel Prize for Engineering was […]
Gossip, Honesty and Dishonesty: 2022 Ig Informal Lecture
The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, then THINK. In the Ig Informal Lectures, some days after the ceremony, the new Ig Nobel Prize winners attempt to explain what they did, and why they did it. We are releasing these lectures one at a time. The 2022 Ig Nobel Peace Prize was awarded […]
Ice Cream to Prevent Chemo Damage: 2022 Ig Informal Lecture
The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, then THINK. In the Ig Informal Lectures, some days after the ceremony, the new Ig Nobel Prize winners attempt to explain what they did, and why they did it. We are releasing these lectures one at a time. The 2022 Ig Nobel Prize for Medicine was […]