Ig Nobel Prize Tour of the UK and Ireland 2004

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The Manchester Show

on the 2004 Ig™ Nobel Tour of the UK and Ireland

Faces in the crowd.

WHEN/WHERE: March 17, 2004, Manchester University's Refectory Building

MASTER OF CEREMONIES: Marc Abrahams (organizer of the Ig Nobel Prizes, and editor of the Annals of Improbable Research).

IG NOBEL WINNERS: Several Ig Nobel Prize-winners gave five-minute talks/demonstrations and took questions. Among them: Andre Geim, David Gadian, Pek Van Andel, Charles Paxton and Kees Moeliker. (See below for a brief description of what each did to win an Ig; for more detail, click here.)

Ig winner Andre Geim explains how he used magnets to levitate a frog.

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: The event included a performance of the Ig Nobel mini-opera "Atom and Eve," starring singers Helen Watson, Matt Holker, Robbie Goulding and pianist Mike Hands of the Manchester University Gilbert and Sullivan Society.

The audience learns about the Win-a-Date-With-a-Nobel-Laureate Contest that is part of each year's Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony.

COMPETITIONS: There were two competitions (for details click here):

  • Science Limerick Contest (the winner received a free trip for two to the 2004 Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony at Harvard!).
  • Science-Barnet-of-the-Year Competition (conducted in stylish cooperation with the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists. The winner received a free makover at a posh London Hair Salon!).

    • Ig winner Pek Van Andel shows his pioneering MRI pictures of human sexual organs while those organs were in use.

    ORGANIZERS: Rob Holland, Julian Jacobs, Joanne Coleman

    Soprano Helen Watson sings the role of "Eve" in the nano-opera as the audience eyes giant projected images of the song lyrics.

    PHOTOS: The photographs shown here were taken by Ig Nobel winner Kees Moeliker

    Contestants in the limerick contest react to the audience reacting to their poetical performances. Master of ceremonies Marc Abrahams directs the audience's attention to one contestant.

    SPONSORED BY: The Times Higher Education Supplement and The British Association for the Advancement of Science.

    Ig winners Pek Van Andel (left) and David Gadian (next to him), having given their five-minute talks, join the audience. Gadian and his team won their Ig for working with the brains of London Taxi Drivers.

    The curiously-clad foot of an Ig Nobel Prize winner.

    The Manchester audience studies a projected image of a man raptly attending a lecture.

    2004 Ig Nobel U.K. / Ireland Tour Events

  • Thu 11th March, OXFORD: Martin Wood Lecture Theatre, Clarendon Laboratory, OXFORD UNIVERSITY, 8:00 PM
  • Fri 12th March, NOTTINGHAM: John Clare Lecture Theatre 6, Clifton Campus, Clifton Lane (A453), NOTTINGHAM TRENT UNIVERSITY, 7:00 PM
  • Sat 13th March, BELFAST: W5@Odyssey 2 Queen's Quay, 3:00 PM
  • Sun 14th March, DUBLIN: Royal Dublin Society, Ballsbridge, 3:00 PM
  • Mon 15th March, GLASGOW: Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, 232-242 St Vincent Street, 7:00 PM
  • Tue 16th March, EXETER: Parker Moot Room, Amory Building, EXETER UNIVERSITY, 7:00 PM
  • Wed 17th March, MANCHESTER: Staff House Lounge, Refectory Building, Burlington Street (off Oxford Road), UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER, 7:30 PM
  • Thu 18th March, LONDON: Institute of Electrical Engineers, Savoy Place, 6:30 PM
  • Mon 22nd March, WARRINGTON, CHESHIRE: CCLRC Daresbury Laboratory, Keckwick Lane, Daresbury, nr Warrington, 7:00 PM

    • Winners on the Tour

    Here are some of the Ig Nobel Prize winners who appeared at one or more Tour events.

  • Charles Deeming (Biology Prize 2002), Courtship Behaviour of Ostriches Towards Humans Under Farming Conditions in Britain
  • Chris Frith, (Medicine Prize, 2003), The Impressive Brains of London Taxi Drivers
  • David Gadian (Medicine Prize, 2003), The Impressive Brains of London Taxi Drivers
  • Andrey Geim (Physics Prize, 2000), Using Magnets to Levitate a Frog
  • Harold Hillman (Peace Prize, 1997), The Possible Pain Experienced During Execution by Different Methods
  • Chris McManus (Medicine Prize 2002), Scrotal Asymmetry in Man and in Ancient Sculpture
  • Kees Moeliker (Biology Prize, 2003), The First Scientifically Recorded Case of Homosexual Necrophilia in the Mallard Duck
  • Charles Paxton (Biology Prize 2002), Courtship Behaviour of Ostriches Towards Humans Under Farming Conditions in Britain
  • Karl Schwärzler (Economics Prize, 2003), How to Rent the Entire Country of Liechtenstein for Corporate Conventions, Weddings, and Bar Mitzvahs
  • Pek Van Andel (Medicine Prize, 2000), Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Male and Female Genitals During Coitus and Female Sexual Arousal

    For more details about any of them, see the list of all Ig Nobel Prize Winners

     

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