
The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, then THINK. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative — and spur people’s interest in science, medicine, and technology.
The Ceremony: [The 33rd First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony will happen on Thursday, September 14, 2023. The 32nd First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony happened on September 15, 2022] Every September, in a gala ceremony in Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre, 1100 splendidly eccentric spectators watch the new winners step forward to accept their Prizes. These are physically handed to them by genuine (and genuinely bemused) Nobel Laureates. Thousands more, around the world, watch the live broadcast online. During these recent Covid-19 pandemic years, the ceremony has happened entirely online. We eagerly look forward to the time when ceremonies can again happen inside a big, packed theater.
For more info, see the list of Ig Nobel Prize winners, and also the Archives (videos and details of past ceremonies) |
“Last, but not least, there are the Ig Nobel awards. These come with little cash, but much cachet, and reward those research projects that ‘first make people laugh, and then make them think'” — Nature
“It’s like the weirdest f-ing thing that you’ll ever go to… it’s a collection of, like, actual Nobel Prize winners giving away prizes to real scientists for doing f’d-up things… it’s awesome.” —Amanda Palmer
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