Andreasujg at 15:37, 27 March 2026

2026-03-27T15:37:56Z

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{{short description|Annually awarded parody of the Nobel Prize}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2018}}
[[File:Pone.0223447.g002.png|thumb|The 2025 Ig Nobel Prize in biology was awarded to [[Tomoki Kojima]] and other researchers for demonstrating that painting [[cows]] with [[zebra stripes|black and white stripes]] can prevent [[biting flies]] biting them without using more pesticide.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crkjzxrrkd5o |title=Zebra cows and Teflon food make Ig Nobel prize winners |publisher=bbc.com |date=September 19, 2025 |access-date=September 20, 2025}}</ref>]]

The '''Ig Nobel Prize''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|ɪ|ɡ|_|n|oʊ|ˈ|b|ɛ|l}}) is a [[satire|satirical prize]] awarded annually since 1991 to promote public engagement with scientific research. Its aim is to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." The name of the award is a pun on the [[Nobel Prize]], which it parodies, and on the word [[wikt:ignoble#English|''ignoble'']]. Most awards are for genuine scientific achievements with an unorthodox, obvious or humorous slant, while other awards are given ironically to various [[fraudster]]s, politicians, media figures, or promoters of [[pseudoscience]].

Organized by the scientific humor magazine ''[[Annals of Improbable Research]]'' (AIR), the Ig Nobel Prizes are presented by [[List of Nobel laureates|Nobel laureates]] in a ceremony at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]. The winners also deliver public lectures.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://slate.com/technology/2012/09/ig-nobel-prize-2012-improbable-research-presented-in-sept-20-ceremony-and-this-is-improbable-book.html |title=The Greatest Hits of Weird Science: What the Oscars could learn from the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony |author-link=Marc Abrahams |first=Marc |last=Abrahams |date=September 12, 2012 |work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate.com]] |access-date=November 17, 2018}}</ref> The Ig Nobel Prize monetary award is given in a solitary [[banknote]] for the amount of 10 trillion [[Zimbabwean dollar (1980–2009)|Zimbabwean dollars]] (US$0.40, but the banknote is worth more as a [[collector's item]]<ref name="frisby">{{cite news |last=Frisby |first=Dominic |date=14 May 2016 |title=Zimbabwe's trillion-dollar note: from worthless paper to hot investment |url=http://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/may/14/zimbabwe-trillion-dollar-note-hyerinflation-investment |newspaper=the Guardian}}</ref>).<ref>{{Cite news |last=Davis |first=Nicola |date=2023-09-14 |title=Reanimated spiders and smart toilets triumph at Ig Nobel prizes |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/sep/14/reanimated-spiders-and-smart-toilets-triumph-at-ig-nobel-prizes |access-date=2024-09-13 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

== History ==
The Ig Nobels were created in 1991 by [[Marc Abrahams]], then editor-in-chief of the ''[[Journal of Irreproducible Results]]'' and later co-founder of the ''[[Annals of Improbable Research]]'', who has been the master of ceremonies at all awards ceremonies. Awards were presented at that time for discoveries "that cannot, or should not, be reproduced". Ten prizes are awarded each year in many categories, including the Nobel Prize categories of physics, chemistry, physiology/medicine, literature, economics, and peace, but also other categories such as public health, engineering, biology, and interdisciplinary research. The Ig Nobel Prizes recognize genuine achievements, with the exception of three prizes awarded in the first year to fictitious scientists [[Josiah S. Carberry]], Paul DeFanti,<ref>[http://tech.mit.edu/V111/N41/jackso.41o.html "Ig Nobel prizes display wit, fun, drunks"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230211052256/http://tech.mit.edu/V111/N41/jackso.41o.html |date=February 11, 2023 }}, ''[[The Tech (newspaper)|The Tech]]'', vol. 111, issue 41</ref> and [[Administratium|Thomas Kyle]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=1991-10-05 |title=Ig Nobel Prizes Go to Those Likely to Be Overlooked : Lampoon: MIT researchers create the new series of awards, named after the 'inventor of soda pop.' Among the first winners are Vice President Dan Quayle and imprisoned junk-bond king Michael Milken. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-10-05-mn-3178-story.html |access-date=2022-12-02 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref>

The awards are sometimes criticism via satire, as in the two awards given for [[homeopathy]] research, prizes in "science education" to the [[Kansas State Department of Education]] and [[Colorado State Board of Education]] for their [[Kansas evolution hearings|stance]] regarding the [[Creation and evolution in public education|teaching of evolution]], and the prize awarded to ''[[Social Text]]'' after the [[Sokal affair]]. Most often, however, they draw attention to [[scientific articles]] that have some humorous or unexpected aspect. Examples range from the discovery that the presence of humans tends to sexually arouse [[ostrich]]es, to the statement that [[black hole]]s fulfill all the technical requirements for being the location of Hell, to research on the "[[five-second rule]]", a tongue-in-cheek belief that food dropped on the floor will not become contaminated if it is picked up within five seconds.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://improbable.com/ig/ig-pastwinners.html| title = Improbable.com Ig Nobel Past Winners| access-date = July 10, 2019| archive-date = September 6, 2019| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190906104917/https://improbable.com/ig/ig-pastwinners.html| url-status = dead}}</ref>

Sir [[Andre Geim]], who had been awarded an Ig Nobel Prize in 2000 for levitating a frog by magnetism, was awarded a Nobel Prize in physics in 2010 for his work with the electromagnetic properties of [[graphene]]. He is the only individual, as of 2026, to have received both a Nobel and an Ig Nobel.<ref name="Overbye_NYT">{{cite news |last1=Overbye |first1=Dennis |author1-link=Dennis Overbye |title=Physics Nobel Honors Work on Ultra-Thin Carbon |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/science/06nobel.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=March 30, 2023 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 5, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140924123720/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/science/06nobel.html?pagewanted=all |archive-date=2014-09-24}}{{cbignore}}</ref>{{efn|In January 2026, [[María Corina Machado]], the recipient of the [[2025 Nobel Peace Prize]], gave her Nobel medal to [[Donald Trump]], a co-recipient of the 2020 Ig Nobel Prize in Medical Education, but The Nobel Prize Committee clarified that the prize "cannot be revoked, shared or transferred".<ref>{{Cite news |date=2026-01-11 |title=Nobel Institute rejects María Corina Machado’s offer to share peace prize with Trump |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/11/nobel-institute-rejects-maria-corina-machados-offer-to-share-peace-prize-with-trump |access-date=2026-01-11 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>}}

Two books have been published with write-ups on some winners: ''The Ig Nobel Prize''<ref>2002, US paperback {{ISBN|0-452-28573-9}}, UK paperback {{ISBN|0-7528-4261-7}}</ref> and ''The Ig Nobel Prize 2'',<ref>2005, US hardcover {{ISBN|0-525-94912-7}}, UK hardcover {{ISBN|0-7528-6461-0}}</ref> the latter of which was later retitled ''The Man Who Tried to Clone Himself''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Abrahams |first=Marc |url=https://archive.org/details/manwhotriedtoclo0000abra |title=The Man Who Tried to Clone Himself |publisher=Plume |year=2006 |isbn=9780452287723 |url-access=registration}}</ref> An Ig Nobel Tour has been an annual part of National Science week in the United Kingdom since 2003.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Ig Nobel Tour of the UK |url=https://www.improbable.com/navstrip/airshows/info/Ig-Nobel_UK_hosting_info.pdf |access-date=November 17, 2018}}</ref>

== Ceremony ==
[[File:10 Trillion Zimbabwean Dollars (cropped).jpg|thumb|Winners of the Ig Nobel Prize are awarded a banknote for the amount of 10 trillion [[Zimbabwean dollar (1980–2009)|Zimbabwean dollar]]s.]]
The prizes are mostly presented by [[List of Nobel laureates|Nobel laureates]], originally at a ceremony in a lecture hall at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] but moved in 1994 to the [[Memorial Hall (Harvard University)|Sanders Theater]] at [[Harvard University]] for many years.<ref name=":0" /> Due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], the event was held fully online from 2020 to 2023.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-05-19|title=2020 Ceremony|url=https://www.improbable.com/ig-about/the-30th-first-annual-ig-nobel-prize-ceremony/|access-date=2020-12-27|website=Improbable Research|archive-date=December 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201207075555/https://www.improbable.com/ig-about/the-30th-first-annual-ig-nobel-prize-ceremony/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-09-18|title=What is the Ig Nobel Prize and who won it this year?|url=https://metro.co.uk/2020/09/18/what-is-the-ig-nobel-prize-and-who-won-it-this-year-13289325/|access-date=2020-12-27|website=Metro|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Ig Nobel Awards Go Virtual|url=https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/ignobels-2020/|access-date=2020-12-27|website=Science Friday|language=en-US}}</ref> The ceremony returned to MIT in September 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-07-07 |title=The 34th First Annual Ig Nobel Ceremony |url=https://improbable.com/ig/archive/2024-ceremony/ |access-date=2024-09-13 |website=improbable.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

The event contains a number of running jokes, including Miss Sweetie Poo, a little girl who repeatedly cries out, "Please stop: I'm bored", in a high-pitched voice if speakers go on too long.<ref name=":0">{{cite news |first=Kees |last=Moeliker |author-link=Kees Moeliker |title=Infinity and so much more |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2005/oct/11/highereducation.research1 |publisher=Education.guardian.co.uk |date=October 11, 2005 |access-date=November 17, 2018 |location=London}}</ref> The awards ceremony is traditionally closed with the words: "If you didn't win a prize—and especially if you did—better luck next year!"<ref name=":02">{{Cite report |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/ig-nobel-prizes-honor-zombie-spiders-rock-licking-scientists-and-clever-commode |title=Ig Nobel Prizes honor zombie spiders, rock-licking scientists, and a clever commode |last=Jacobs |first=Phie |date=2023-09-14 |doi=10.1126/science.adk8631 |language=en|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The ceremony is co-sponsored by the Harvard Computer Society, the [[Harvard–Radcliffe Science Fiction Association]] and the Harvard–Radcliffe Society of Physics Students.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.improbable.com/ig-about/| title = Improbable.com: "About the Ig Nobel prize"| access-date = July 8, 2019| archive-date = June 4, 2019| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190604012502/https://www.improbable.com/ig/| url-status = dead}}</ref>

Throwing [[paper plane]]s onto the stage is a long-standing tradition. For many years Professor [[Roy J. Glauber]] swept the stage clean of the airplanes as the official "Keeper of the Broom". Glauber could not attend the 2005 awards because he was traveling to Stockholm to claim a genuine [[Nobel Prize in Physics]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.improbable.com/2018/12/27/sad-news-roy-glauber-paper-airplane-sweeper-and-physicist-of-light-is-gone/ |work=Improbable.com |title=Roy Glauber, paper airplane sweeper, is gone |date=2018-12-27}}</ref>

The "Parade of Ignitaries" into the hall includes supporting groups. At the 1997 ceremonies, a team of "cryogenic sex researchers" distributed a pamphlet titled "Safe Sex at Four Kelvin."<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/1997/10/a-gala-night-for-weird-science/ |first=Scott |last=Kirsner |title=A Gala Night for Weird Science |magazine=Wired }}</ref> Delegates from the [[Museum of Bad Art]] are often on hand to display some pieces from their collection.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Powell |first=Alvin |date=2000-10-12 |title=Ig Nobels flush out the world's top brains :Bad science gets good reputation at 10th annual prize ceremony |url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2000/10/ig-nobels-flush-out-the-worlds-top-brains-bad-science-gets-good-reputation-at-10th-annual-prize-ceremony/ |access-date=2024-07-17 |website=Harvard Gazette |language=en-US}}</ref>

For the 2026 awarding ceremony, the AIR said that it would hold the event on 3 September in [[Zurich]], Switzerland, and would be hosted by the [[University of Zurich]] and [[ETH Domain]], saying that the United States had become "unsafe" for guests.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2026-03-10 |title=Ig Nobel prizes moving to Europe because US 'unsafe' to visit |url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20260310-ig-nobel-prizes-moving-to-europe-because-us-unsafe-to-visit |access-date=2026-03-10 |website=France 24 |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
[[File:Frog_diamagnetic_levitation.jpg|thumb|The 2000 Ig Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to [[Andre Geim]], [[Radboud University Nijmegen]], and [[Michael Berry (physicist)|Michael Berry]], [[University of Bristol]], UK, for the [[magnetic levitation]] of a live frog. Geim was awarded an actual Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010.<ref>{{cite web |date=October 5, 2010 |title=Geim becomes first Nobel & Ig Nobel winner |url=https://www.improbable.com/2010/10/05/geim-becomes-first-nobel-ig-nobel-winner/ |access-date=November 17, 2018 |publisher=Improbable.com}}</ref>]]
A September 2009 article in ''[[The National (Abu Dhabi)|The National]]'' titled "A noble side to Ig Nobels" says that, although the Ig Nobel Awards are veiled criticism of trivial research, history shows that trivial research sometimes leads to important breakthroughs.<ref>{{cite web |first=Robert |last=Matthews |url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/science/a-noble-side-to-ig-nobels-1.532698 |title=A Noble Side to Ig Nobels |website=The National |date=September 27, 2009 |access-date=November 17, 2018}}</ref> For instance, in 2006, a study showing that one of the mosquitoes that can carry [[malaria]] (''[[Anopheles gambiae]]'') is attracted equally to the smell of [[Limburger|Limburger cheese]] and the smell of human feet<ref>{{cite journal |first=Bart |last=Knols |title=On human odour, malaria mosquitoes, and Limburger cheese |journal=Lancet |volume=348 |issue=9037 |page=1322 |date=November 9, 1996 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(05)65812-6 |pmid=8909415 |s2cid=12571262 |url=https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(05)65812-6.pdf |access-date=November 17, 2018}}</ref> earned the Ig Nobel Prize in the area of biology. As a direct result of these findings, traps baited with this cheese have been placed in strategic locations to combat the epidemic of malaria in Africa.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.improbable.com/ig/ig-pastwinners.html#ig2006 |title=The 2006 Ig Nobel Prize Winners |publisher=Improbable.com |access-date=November 17, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |journal=Parasitology Today |volume=12 |issue=4 |date=April 1996 |pages=159–161 |title=Limburger cheese as an attractant for the malaria mosquito ''Anopheles gambiae s.s.'' |first1=Bart |last1=Knols |first2=Ruurd |last2=De Jong |doi=10.1016/0169-4758(96)10002-8 |pmid=15275226 }}</ref> [[Andre Geim]], before sharing the 2010 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] for his research on [[graphene]], shared the Physics Ig Nobel in [[List of Ig Nobel Prize winners#2000|2000]] with [[Michael Berry (physicist)|Michael Berry]] for the magnetic levitation of a frog, which by 2022 was reportedly part of the inspiration for China's [[Gravitation of the Moon#Simulating lunar gravity|lunar gravity research]] facility.<ref name="Futurism01a">{{cite web |title=China building "Artificial Moon" that simulates low gravity with magnets|url=https://futurism.com/the-byte/china-artificial-moon-magnets|website=Futurism.com|date=January 12, 2022 |publisher=Recurrent Ventures|access-date=17 January 2022 |quote=the facility was partly inspired by previous research conducted by Russian physicist Andrew Geim in which he floated a frog with a magnet. The experiment earned Geim the Ig Nobel Prize in Physics, a satirical award given to unusual scientific research. It’s cool that a quirky experiment involving floating a frog could lead to something approaching an honest-to-God antigravity chamber.}}</ref><ref name="scmp2022-01-12a">{{cite web |author=Stephen Chen|title=China has built an artificial moon that simulates low-gravity conditions on Earth|url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3162972/china-has-built-artificial-moon-simulates-low-gravity-conditions|publisher=[[South China Morning Post]]|access-date=17 January 2022 |date=12 January 2022 |quote=It is said to be the first of its kind and could play a key role in the country’s future lunar missions. Landscape is supported by a magnetic field and was inspired by experiments to levitate a frog.}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[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|''Bookseller''/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year]] – an award for books with unusual titles
* [[Pigasus Award]] – exposing parapsychological, paranormal, or psychic frauds
* [[Golden Fleece Award]] – award for waste of government funds; often awarded for government-paid research considered frivolous or wasteful
* [[Foot in Mouth Award]] – an award presented by the [[Plain English Campaign]] for "a baffling comment by a public figure"
* [["British scientists"]] – Russian joke regarding absurd news reports about scientific discoveries

== References ==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{commons category}}
* {{official website|https://improbable.com/ig/about-the-ig-nobel-prizes/}}
* [https://improbable.com/ig/winners/ Index to list of past winners]
* {{cite web |publisher= [[TED (conference)|TED Talk]] |first= Marc |last= Abrahams |url= https://www.ted.com/talks/marc_abrahams_a_science_award_that_makes_you_laugh_then_think |title= A science award that makes you laugh, then think |date= Sep 2014 }}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Ig Nobel Prize| ]]
[[Category:1991 establishments in the United States]]
[[Category:Awards established in 1991]]
[[Category:Harvard University]]
[[Category:Ironic and humorous awards]]
[[Category:Humour in science]]

Ig Nobel Prize - Revision history

Andreasujg at 15:37, 27 March 2026