Every Ig Nobel Prize ceremony since 1996 has included a new mini-opera, performed by professional opera singers (with Nobel Laureates acting in supporting roles). These mini-operas honor the tradition of the classic Bugs Bunny cartoons “What’s Opera, Doc?” and “Rabbit of Seville“—each mini-opera is a pasticcio that marries a brand new story & words to beloved […]
Tag: Ig Nobel
Nations use the Ig Nobel Prize as a propaganda cudgel
Every nation is keen to find new propaganda weapons to use against its rival nations. Some nations now gleefully use the Ig Nobel Prize. Here’s a recent (September 18, 2019) example, in an editorial in the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun: Ig Nobel Prizes encourage people to enjoy science with a smile Winners of the Ig […]
Laboratory News looks at almost 30 years of Ig Nobel stuff
There’s lots of quasi-juicy Ig Nobel history in this profile, in the British publication Laboratory News, by Jonathan Chadwick:
Ig Nobel Peace Prize winner Jacques Chirac has died
Jacques Chirac, who was awarded the 1996 Ig Nobel Peace Prize, has died. A news report in DW says: “The former French president, Jacques Chirac, has died ‘peacefully’ at the age of 86, his family said.’ The 1996 Ig Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Jacques Chirac, President of France, for commemorating the fiftieth anniversary […]
Banana skins and rabbit cartilage mucus – with an Ig Nobel connection
Kiyoshi Mabuchi, Kensei Tanaka, Daichi Uchijima and Rina Sakai, were jointly awarded the 2014 Ig Nobel Physics Prize for measuring the amount of friction between a shoe and a banana skin, and between a banana skin and the floor, when a person steps on a banana skin that’s on the floor. REFERENCE: “Frictional Coefficient under […]
In-depth examination of the Ig Nobel Prizes, for German doctors
Ärtze Zeitung, the German newspaper for doctors, has a loving, long appreciation of the Ig Nobel Prizes. It begins [here translated into English]: Winking and improving the world The research results, for which the Ig Nobel Prize is awarded annually, often tease the laughing muscles – and then make you think. Many results are now available in […]
The case of the missing(?) feet
A strange (and true) news report from 1996, about an aftermath of that year’s Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, begins: Sorting Out This Case Could Take The Wisdom of a Learned Hand —- By Ross Kerber Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal The value of a Nobel Prize-worthy feat is clearly established: The Royal Swedish Academy […]
“I burst out laughing at the Tokyo ‘World Exhibition of the Ig Nobel Prize’! “
“I burst out laughing at the Tokyo ‘World Exhibition of the Ig Nobel Prize’! ” says Ark’s blog. The blog gives a detailed account (in Japanese), with many photos, of the press opening to the world’s first large-scale exhibition devoted to the Ig Nobel Prizes. The exhibition, at the Tokyo Dome complex, runs through November […]
Ig Nobel event TONIGHT—Ishikawa Prefectural University
The Ig Nobel Japan Tour has its final event tonight, with an event at Ishikawa Prefectural University on Thursday, September 27. WHERE: Ishikawa Prefectural University, Hokkoku Shimbun Interchange Hall (2-1 Minami-cho, Kanazawa City). WHEN: 17:30 Marc Abrahams and Ig Nobel Prize winners Yukio Hirose, and Hidehiko Kumagai (who is also president of the university) & Shinsuke Imai will discuss the […]
Ig Nobel event—with Two/Too Lectures!—at Hokkaido U
The Ig Nobel Japan Tour continues, with an event at Hokkaido University on Wednesday, September 26. Marc Abrahams and Ig Nobel Prize winners — Prof. Toshiyuki Nakagaki (winner of two Ig Nobel Prizes, for discovering that slime mold can solve puzzles and that slime mold is more efficient than human engineers at designing railway routes), and Prof. Kazunori […]