Ig Nobel Prize

The Ig Nobel Prizes are parodies of the Nobel Prizes given out each autumn for 10 unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. They have been awarded since 1991, with the stated aim to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think". The awards can be veiled criticism or satire, but are also used to point out that even absurd-sounding avenues of research can yield useful knowledge.

Organized by the scientific humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research (AIR), they are presented by a group that includes Nobel laureates at a ceremony at Harvard University's Sanders Theater, and they are followed by a set of public lectures by the winners at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The name is a play on the words ("characterized by baseness, lowness, or meanness") and the Nobel Prize. The pronunciation used during the ceremony is /ˌɪɡnoʊˈbɛl/ IG-noh-BEL, not like the word "ignoble".

The Ig Nobels were created in 1991 by Marc Abrahams, editor and co-founder of the Annals of Improbable Research and the master of ceremonies at all subsequent 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, 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, and Thomas Kyle.

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