Pictures - Ig Nobel Prize winners through the years

15.48    

And the winner is ...


Each year in early October, Marc Abrahams, editor and co-founder of Annals of Improbable Research, hosts the Ig Nobel Prize awards ceremony, which celebrates the hilarious and surprising insights of some of the lesser publicized circles of academia. Or, as the Ig Nobel committee puts it, the awards “honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think.”



Each year in early October, Marc Abrahams, editor and co-founder of Annals of Improbable Research, hosts the Ig Nobel Prize awards ceremony, which celebrates the hilarious and surprising insights of some of the lesser publicized circles of academia. Or, as the Ig Nobel committee puts it, the awards “honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think.”

And the winner is ...




Each year in early October, Marc Abrahams, editor and co-founder of Annals of Improbable Research, hosts the Ig Nobel Prize awards ceremony, which celebrates the hilarious and surprising insights of some of the lesser publicized circles of academia. Or, as the Ig Nobel committee puts it, the awards “honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think.”


File Photo


AAA
Nobel Prize laureates, from left, William Lipscomb, Richard Roberts and Dudley Herschbach, demonstrated the research which won an acoustics award which scratched a garden implement on a stone to simulate the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard. Dr. Lynn Halpern, who works in West Roxbury, wrote the award-winning paper in 1986 with then-colleagues from Northeastern University.

Screeeeeech!



Nobel Prize laureates, from left, William Lipscomb, Richard Roberts and Dudley Herschbach, demonstrated the research which won an acoustics award which scratched a garden implement on a stone to simulate the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard. Dr. Lynn Halpern, who works in West Roxbury, wrote the award-winning paper in 1986 with then-colleagues from Northeastern University.


File Photo


AAA

Easy does it ...



Don’t Sneeze: in 2007, Dan Meyer and Brian Witcombe were awarded an Ig Nobel for their research of sword swallowing and its side effects. Their acceptance speech was punctuated by a live demonstration.


File Photo


AAA
Bart Knols accepted the 2006 Ig Nobel prize in Biology for showing that the female malaria mosquito is attracted equally to the smell of limburger cheese and to the smell of human feet.

The mosquito nose knows



Bart Knols accepted the 2006 Ig Nobel prize in Biology for showing that the female malaria mosquito is attracted equally to the smell of limburger cheese and to the smell of human feet.


File Photo


AAA
Ivan Schwab accepted the 2006 Ig Nobel prize in Ornithology for exploring and explaining why woodpeckers do not get headaches.

Knock knock



Ivan Schwab accepted the 2006 Ig Nobel prize in Ornithology for exploring and explaining why woodpeckers do not get headaches.


File Photo


AAA
In 2008, Geoffrey Miller, Joshua Tybur and Brent Jordan discovered that exotic dancers make more money when they are at peak of their fertility cycles. Miller told The Associated Press that he heard that “some lap dancers have scheduled shifts based on this research.”

When to shake your money maker



In 2008, Geoffrey Miller, Joshua Tybur and Brent Jordan discovered that exotic dancers make more money when they are at peak of their fertility cycles. Miller told The Associated Press that he heard that “some lap dancers have scheduled shifts based on this research.”


File Photo


AAA
In 2008, Deborah Anderson of Boston University, Sheree Umpierre and Joseph Hill won their Ig Nobel for their discovery of Diet Coke’s effectiveness as a spermicide. Anderson told The Associated Press that they were “thrilled to win an Ig Nobel, because the study was somewhat of a parody in the first place.” She also said that she would not recommend using Coke as birth control.

Can bubbles stop babies?



In 2008, Deborah Anderson of Boston University, Sheree Umpierre and Joseph Hill won their Ig Nobel for their discovery of Diet Coke’s effectiveness as a spermicide. Anderson told The Associated Press that they were “thrilled to win an Ig Nobel, because the study was somewhat of a parody in the first place.” She also said that she would not recommend using Coke as birth control.


File Photo


AAA
In 2012, Dutch researchers won the psychology prize for studying why leaning to the left makes the Eiffel Tower look smaller.

Lean in



In 2012, Dutch researchers won the psychology prize for studying why leaning to the left makes the Eiffel Tower look smaller.


File Photo


AAA
In 2008, Astolfo Gomes de Mello Araujo and Jose Carlos Marcelino won an Ig Nobel for their findings detailing the ability of armadillos to move artifacts up, down, and even laterally by several yards at archaeological dig sites.

It belongs in a museum!



In 2008, Astolfo Gomes de Mello Araujo and Jose Carlos Marcelino won an Ig Nobel for their findings detailing the ability of armadillos to move artifacts up, down, and even laterally by several yards at archaeological dig sites.


File Photo


AAA