{"id":9706,"date":"2012-04-01T23:03:24","date_gmt":"2012-04-02T06:03:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/?p=9706"},"modified":"2013-09-10T15:51:07","modified_gmt":"2013-09-10T22:51:07","slug":"there-is-a-parody-set-of-nobel-prizes-given-out-annually-for-trivial-scientific-achievements-the-ig-nobel-prizes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2012\/04\/there-is-a-parody-set-of-nobel-prizes-given-out-annually-for-trivial-scientific-achievements-the-ig-nobel-prizes\/","title":{"rendered":"There is a Parody Set of Nobel Prizes Given Out Annually for Trivial Scientific Achievements, The IG Nobel Prizes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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IG Nobel Prize winner Dr. Elena Bodnar demonstrating her invention of a bra that doubles as a breathing mask.<\/p><\/div>\n

Today I found out<\/a> there is a parody set of Nobel Prizes given out annually for trivial scientific achievements.<\/p>\n

These prizes (10 per year in a variety of categories) are called the IG Nobel Prizes (play on words: “Ignoble Prize”) and are given to those whose work “first makes people laugh, and then makes them think”.\u00a0 Essentially, they are given to people whose research is highly unusual or seemingly trivial, but none-the-less is interesting and sometimes even important.<\/p>\n

The IG Nobel Prizes have been given out annually since 1991, usually in September or October, by the magazine Annals of Improbable Research<\/em> and is co-sponsored by various Harvard societies. The location of the ceremony was originally at MIT, but now is at Harvard, though lectures by the winners are given at MIT the Saturday following the ceremony so that they can expound upon their not-so-groundbreaking research.<\/p>\n

The prizes are presented to the winners by actual Nobel laureates.\u00a0 One person, Sir Andre Geim, has actually won both an IG Nobel Prize (in 2000) and a real Nobel Prize (in 2010).\u00a0 He won the IG Nobel Prize for an experiment where he and another scientist successfully levitated a frog using magnets.\u00a0 His actual Nobel Prize was won “for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene”.<\/p>\n

During the ceremony, each IG Nobel Prize winner is given 60 seconds to explain their research.\u00a0 If they go over the time, a little girl, “Miss Sweetie Poo”, will walk up to them and yell “Please stop: I’m bored” continually until the speaker stops.\u00a0 It was also once traditional for audience members to throw paper airplanes at the stage while the ceremony was taking place, but this practice has died out in recent years due to safety concerns.<\/p>\n

Some examples of work that resulted in people winning IG Nobel Prizes includes:<\/p>\n