The 17th Annual "ig’s" –The Nobel Prize for Outrageously Humorous Science
For achievements that first make people laugh...then make them think.
First awarded through Alfred Nobel’s will in 1985, the Nobel Prizes are currently awarded for Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Peace and Economics. They are the big awards if you’re a scientist, kind of like the Oscars are for actors.
However, just as the Academy Awards have their counterpart – the Golden Raspberry awards for bad film work – so do the Nobel prizes have their own less reputable, but often far more enjoyable counterpart.
The Ig Nobel Prizes are, essentially, a parody of the Nobel Prizes, given out each October to coincide with their more respectable cousins. They are given out for ten achievements that "first make people laugh, and then make them think."
Organized by the scientific humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research (AIR), The Ig’s are presented at a ceremony at Harvard University's Sanders Theater by various individuals, including some genuine Nobel Laureates.
The Ig’s were first awarded back in 1991, with the differing purpose of highlighting discoveries "that cannot, or should not, be reproduced." A prime example of this is the award won by ‘J. Danforth Quayle, consumer of time and occupier of space, for demonstrating, better than anyone else, the need for science education.’
To highlight some of the funniest would take far too long, and be nothing more than an almost complete listing of the past 17 years of Ig’s. However there are several that stick out as completely warranted award winners that we must share with you.
- VISIONARY TECHNOLOGY – 93
Presented jointly to Jay Schiffman
of Farmington Hills, Michigan, crack inventor of AutoVision, an image
projection device that makes it possible to drive a car and watch
television at the same time, and to the Michigan state legislature, for
making it legal to do so.
- ECONOMICS - 02
The (US based) executives, corporate
directors, and auditors of Enron, Lernaut & Hauspie [Belgium],
Adelphia, Bank of Commerce and Credit International [Pakistan],
Cendant, CMS Energy, Duke Energy, Dynegy, Gazprom [Russia], Global
Crossing, HIH Insurance [Australia], Informix, Kmart, Maxwell
Communications [UK], McKessonHBOC, Merrill Lynch, Merck, Peregrine
Systems, Qwest Communications, Reliant Resources, Rent-Way, Rite Aid,
Sunbeam, Tyco, Waste Management, WorldCom, Xerox, and Arthur Andersen,
for adapting the mathematical concept of imaginary numbers for use in
the business world.
- ECONOMICS - 2005
Gauri Nanda of the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, for inventing an alarm clock that runs away and hides,
repeatedly, thus ensuring that people DO get out of bed, and thus
theoretically adding many productive hours to the workday.
- ASTROPHYSICS
Dr. Jack and Rexella Van Impe of Jack Van Impe
Ministries, Rochester Hills, Michigan, for their discovery that black
holes fulfill all the technical requirements to be the location of Hell.
The 17th annual Ig Nobel Prizes will be announced this Thursday, at Harvard University, and according to the website, tickets are still available from the Harvard.
Posted by Josh Hill.
Story Links:
http://www.networkworld.com/slideshows/2007/100207-ig-nobel-prizes.html?nwwpkg=slideshows
http://improbable.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ig_Nobel_Prize
Comments