Ig Nobel Prize

and other researchers for demonstrating that painting cows with black and white stripes can prevent biting flies biting them without using more pesticide. 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 (AIR), who has been the master of ceremonies at all awards. The name is also a pun on the word ignoble. Awards were presented for discoveries "that cannot or should not be reproduced". The ceremony originally took place in a lecture hall at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) but moved in 1995 to the Sanders Theater at Harvard University. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was held fully online from 2020 to 2023, returning to MIT in September 2024. In March 2026, the AIR announced that the 2026 awards ceremony would be held on 3 September in Zurich, Switzerland, and hosted by the University of Zurich and ETH Domain, with Abrahams saying that the United States had become "unsafe" for guests. 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. == Awards ==

The aim of the awards, according to Abrahams, is to promote public engagement with science, Awards can be given posthumously. Some awards are given ironically as criticism of research, Other prizes have been awarded to researchers of pseudoscience, such as homeopathy. The winners are chosen by the Ig Nobel board of governors, who receive over 9,000 nominations each year, roughly 10–20% of which are self-nominations. Winners are contacted before being announced to allow them to decline the award, though few do. == Ceremony ==

banknote. The ceremony takes place annually in September, a few weeks before the announcement of the year's Nobel Prize winners. The ceremony opens with the "welcome, welcome" speech, which consists of two words: "welcome, welcome". Winners give a 60 second acceptance speech. An eight-year-old girl, called Miss Sweetie Poo, stands nearby and repeatedly says "Please stop. I'm bored" if speakers go on too long. The ceremony also includes "24/7" speeches, where winners first summarize their work in 24 seconds, then in seven words. The prizes are presented by Nobel laureates, but the banknote is worth more as a collector's item). Throwing paper planes onto the stage is a long-standing tradition. Until his death in 2018, Professor Roy J. Glauber swept the stage clean of 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. Each ceremony also contains a contest where audience members can win a date with a Nobel laureate, as well as a unique event for the year. the ceremony in 2000 included a debate to determine the most intelligent person, where two contestants spoke at the same time for 30 seconds. It traditionally closes with the words: "If you didn't win a prize—and especially if you did—better luck next year!" == Reception and legacy ==

for the magnetic levitation of a live frog. Geim was awarded an actual Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010. As the prize has become more well-known, the scientific community have been more appreciative of it, with some research getting more attention due to winning. In 2006, a study showing that mosquitoes that can carry malaria are attracted equally to the smell of Limburger cheese and the smell of human feet earned the Ig Nobel Prize in biology. As a result of these findings, traps baited with this cheese have been used to combat the malaria epidemic in Africa. == See also ==