Talk:Ig Nobel Prize

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The first Ig Nobel awards were in 1989, Pons and Fleischmann won the Physics prize for cold fusion. Do not recall the others. Sheldon Glashow was an attendee.

Not according to [1]. Can you point to a source? Zarniwoot 00:38, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

I recall seeing a photograph of the proceedings (awards) with Sheldon Glashow on stage. And the award to Pons and Fleischmann for cold fusion. But I don't have a reference ... I realize that I quote from memory, and I'm wrong about the date. But I know that Pons + Fleischmann won the Physics prize for Cold Fusion at the inaugural IgNobel awards ceremony. I see that in the list for 1991 there is no Physics prize, which is strange because physics is an obvious prize category. I believe the official record has been altered to drop P+F. Perhaps to avoid lawsuits. Check with Marc Abrahams? Oh well, that's life I suppose.

I can't find anything to support this with google. It sounds unlikely. Maybe you are confusing it with [2] or the 1993 or 1997 cold fusion related prizes? Zarniwoot 01:55, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

No it was the inaugural IgNobel ceremony. "Support this with google" is not definitive.... you might just get a reference back to yourself. It is curious that no Physics prize is mentioned for 1991. (Physics is a regular category in other years (but not 1991 and 1994)). Curious. Added note: this is only an indirect reference [3] (see p 6 reference to Dec 1991 IgNobel). I understand that IgNobel awards are (now) made with the permission of the recipient (and P+F would obviously not agree to any such award), but anyway... it's not the end of the world.

To beat a dead horse: Wikipedia does not list a physics prize for 1994, but such a prize was awarded, according to this reference[4]. The page lists 10 categories, Wikipedia lists only 9 (for 1994 prizes). The other nine prizewinners mostly coincide with Wikipedia (but the page says literature prize to Ron Hubbard, Wikipedia says Kenzaburo Oe). So who knows? It seems the mention of the 1994 Physics prize has been dropped from the official record.

Now I'm really off my nut. According to Wikipedia itself (page on Run Hubbard) [5], Ron won the 1994 IgNobel Literature Prize. But the Wiki IgNobel page for 1994 winners lists Kenzaburo Oe. But Oe won the REAL Nobel Literature Prize in 1994 [6]. Wikipedia is contradicting itself. Oy vey!

Recent vandalism. Fixed. Zarniwoot 00:42, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

OK. Reading the last para of the reference by Zarniwoot [7], it does say that "***and one prize in 1994*** was based on erroneous press reports, and is not listed". That must be the 1994 Physics (non)prize. And there were three prizes in 1991 for apocryphal achievements (also not listed). So that settles that --- but 1994 literature prize was to Ron Hubbard not Kenzaburo Oe. Did not proofread all the other awards for accuracy.

I have now added them as "Not officially listed". Zarniwoot 00:42, 23 July 2006 (UTC)
The 1991 physics prize seems to have been awarded to "Thomas Kyle", a fictitious person. See [8], [9] and Administratium. Maybe it was later left out because he was made up? Btw, Please sign your comments. It just makes it easyer for everyone ;). Zarniwoot 23:51, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

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I took this text out:

Most winners--especially those who are being "honored" for things they should not have done--are embarrassed by the prizes, but the occasional winner for an obscure or amusing, but genuine, scientific result cheerfully accepts and even attends the award ceremony.

because it doesn't seem to be true. Perhaps it has been in the past, but if you look at the list of the 2003 winners, all of them were represented at the ceremony, and most of them by themselves. There would be nice to have something on the reaction to winning this prize, though, so if somebody can elaborate better on it, please do. -- Jao 09:16, 18 May 2004 (UTC)

It depends. I attended the 2001 Ig Ceremony and the Ig Lectures the day after. Mr Andrade, the Indian psychologist, who won the prize for his paper on nose picking, was almost wetting himself with laughter during his lecture; Mr Malinauskus used the opportunity to promote his holiday park; and the van Impes with their unusual idea about Hell didn't show up. Looking at the prizewinners from 1991 to today, since the Igs are known outside Harvard the focus has changed from mere pisstake to popularization of scientific and political issues -- see the Indian guy who was declared dead by corrupt officials in his country. -- Pilatus 23:48, 5 Sep 2004 (UTC)

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I added a mention of the three Ig Nobel Prizes awarded for fictitious discoveries. The third one is the following (copied from the Ig Nobel website - hopefully I am not guilty of copyright violation):

[Ig Nobel Prize for] PEDESTRIAN TECHNOLOGY (*) Paul DeFanti, wizard of structures and crusader for public safety, for his invention of the Buckybonnet, a geodesic fashion structure that pedestrians wear to protect their heads and preserve their composure.


Mike Rosoft

I rolled it back to return the examples of past Igs - they seem important to give people a sense of what's going on. - DavidWBrooks 14:11, 10 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] "Genuine achiebements"

I reverted the edit that removed "With the exception of three prizes in the first year... all Ig Nobel Prizes have been for genuine achievements." since this is accurate, in the sense that the people/organizations who have received the awards are real and actually did the things that the prize references, even though the Igs sometimes throw a negative spin on those achievements (e.g., jacques eneviste). The point is that three prizes in the first year were for completely made-up groups and activities. Perhaps the anonymous person who removed it called it "false" - perhaps he/she could edit the statement to ease their concerns? - DavidWBrooks 20:52, 19 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Timing

The Ig Nobel Prizes are a parody of the Nobel Prizes and are given each year in early fall — a week or two before the recipients of the genuine Nobel Prizes are announced.

This year, at least, some prizes (Physics) were announced before the Igs, but some (Economics) had not. Research needed.

Could someone change the expression from fall/autumn for those of us living in the southern hemisphere?• Leon 05:14, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "Keeper of the Mop

The page on Roy_Glauber says he has the title "Keeper of the Broom". One of these pages has a mistake.

You are quite correct: It's always been a broom, not a mop! I've changed it. - DavidWBrooks 14:59, 7 February 2006 (UTC)


[edit] did the guy who wrotte this knew anything at all?

The prize is named after scientist called Ignatius Nobel, thats where the name of the Ig Nobel Prize comes from, and NOT a fricking pun (as it says here):

"1,200 spectators jammed into M.I.T.'s Kresage Auditorium to witness the "Fourth First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony." The Ig Nobel Prizes, named for the "legendary Ignatius 'Ig' Nobel, co-inventor of soda-pop," are awarded to real people "whose achievements cannot or should not be reproduced." They are a joint production of the Annals of Improbably Research and the M.I.T. Museum."

www.frivolity.com/teatime/Science_and_Math/Ig_Noble_Prizes.txt

who the hell wrotte this article?, i mean jesus, where the hell they even got that the Ig Nobel was named after that?. I demand a new look on it.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 200.113.118.235 (talk • contribs)

Boy, that's a really funny one. Thanks for sharing. - DavidWBrooks 00:10, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
the article hasnt changed, it still doesnt say why are they called Ig Nobel.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.215.180.73 (talk • contribs)
Quote from the first paragraph: The name is a play on the words ignoble and "Nobel." - DavidWBrooks 03:03, 23 April 2006 (UTC)
Alright, show us the source for that.

[edit] Start date of the awards

Although the first public award ceremony was in 1991, the awards were first made in 1968 when the Annals of Improbable Research were still the Journal of Irreproducible results. See this page by Marc Abrahams: http://web.mit.edu/voodoo/www/is743/ignoble.html

Would someone like to update the page to reflect this?

Thanks, SP Sophisticated penguin 16:46, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Interesting! Marc Abrahams has never, that I've heard, mentioned this and it's not on later Web sites (that page is 13 years old). The JIR/AIR connection is, shall we say, complicated - so maybe a tad more probing is needed. - DavidWBrooks 20:53, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] talk page layout

This talk page is a mess. Please reorg. Thanks. 85.227.226.235 (talk) 09:11, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] It does seem ignobel, ignoble, to omit Marc_Abrahams on the primary page.

[[ hopiakuta Please do sign your signature on your message. ~~ Thank You. -]] 12:05, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

Indeed! Wikipedia is the encyclopedia anyone can edit, so you can add anything you feel belongs without having to wait for anyone to do it for you. DMacks (talk) 16:07, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Miss Sweety Poo

Knowing the sort of folks who are attracted to the Ig Nobels, this could be some sort of group joke ... but different anon editors keep hot-linking Miss Sweety Poo, and I keep un-hot-linking it. This has continued for a long time, each time done by an anon IP who does that single edit and never anything else; none comments or tries to return the link. She's obviously not worthy of a link/article, so perhaps it's just part of a bizarre initiation ceremony into the Cult of the Abrahamas or something ... - DavidWBrooks (talk) 22:20, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, it's a cult. Kill your lazy and create good article about Sweety Poo. --83.237.253.159 (talk) 14:37, 29 March 2008 (UTC)
"Kill your lazy" ... uh-oh, sounds like another Internet meme that I haven't heard of. And I only just caught up with "the cake is a lie"! - DavidWBrooks (talk) 19:17, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Gene Ray said "stupid and evil". He was right. Create any article "Sweety Poo". --85.141.130.17 (talk) 08:22, 30 March 2008 (UTC)