Ig Nobel Prize facts for kids
The Ig Nobel Prize is a funny award given out every year since 1991. It celebrates ten unusual or silly achievements in science. The goal is to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." The name is a play on the famous Nobel Prize and the word ignoble, which means not honorable.
The Ig Nobel Prizes are organized by a science humor magazine called Annals of Improbable Research. Real Nobel Prize winners present the awards. The ceremony happens at the Sanders Theater at Harvard University. After the ceremony, the winners give public talks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Contents
What are the Ig Nobel Prizes?
The Ig Nobels were started in 1991 by Marc Abrahams. He is the editor of the Annals of Improbable Research magazine. Marc Abrahams has been the host of all the award ceremonies. The awards were first given for discoveries "that cannot, or should not, be reproduced."
Each year, ten prizes are given in many different areas. These include the same areas as the Nobel Prize, like physics, chemistry, and peace. They also include other areas such as public health and biology. The Ig Nobel Prizes usually recognize real scientific achievements.
A Prize for Laughter and Thought
Most of the time, the Ig Nobel Prizes highlight real scientific articles that are funny or surprising. For example, one prize was given for research about the "five-second rule." This is a silly idea that food dropped on the floor is safe to eat if you pick it up within five seconds. Another prize looked at whether black holes could technically be the location of Hell.
Sir Andre Geim won an Ig Nobel Prize in 2000. He won for making a frog float using magnetism. Ten years later, in 2010, he won a real Nobel Prize in physics. He won for his work with graphene, a special material. As of 2023, he is the only person to have won both an Ig Nobel and a Nobel Prize.
The Awards Ceremony
Real Nobel Prize winners usually present the Ig Nobel prizes. The ceremony used to be at MIT. Since 1994, it has been held at the Sanders Theater at Harvard University. In 2020 and 2021, the event was held online because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ceremony has many fun traditions. One is "Miss Sweetie Poo," a little girl who shouts, "Please stop: I'm bored!" if speakers talk for too long. The awards ceremony always ends with these words: "If you didn't win a prize—and especially if you did—better luck next year!"
Throwing paper planes onto the stage is a very old tradition. For many years, Professor Roy J. Glauber would sweep the stage clean. He was the official "Keeper of the Broom." In 2005, Glauber could not attend. He was traveling to Stockholm to get his real Nobel Prize in Physics.
The ceremony is supported by student groups at Harvard. Delegates from the Museum of Bad Art often show some of their strange art pieces.
Spreading the Word
The Ig Nobel ceremony is recorded and played on National Public Radio in the US. It is also shown live on the Internet. The recording is broadcast every year on the Friday after US Thanksgiving. It is part of the public radio show Science Friday. Because of this, the audience often chants the name of the show's host, Ira Flatow.
Two books have been published about some of the winners. They are called The Ig Nobel Prize and The Ig Nobel Prize 2. The second book was later renamed The Man Who Tried to Clone Himself.
An Ig Nobel Tour has been part of National Science Week in the United Kingdom since 2003. The tour has also visited Australia, Denmark, Italy, and the Netherlands.
See also
In Spanish: Premio Ig Nobel para niños
- List of Ig Nobel Prize winners
- Darwin Awards
- Golden Raspberry Awards – awards for bad movies
- Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest – an award for bad writing
- Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year – an award for books with unusual titles
- Pigasus Award – exposing fake psychic claims
- Golden Fleece Award – award for wasted government money
- Foot in Mouth Award – an award for confusing comments by public figures
- "British scientists" – a joke about absurd news reports
