The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, then THINK. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative — and spur people’s interest in science, medicine, and technology.

A History of the Ceremony

Every September, in a gala ceremony in Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre, 1100 splendidly eccentric spectators watch the new winners step forward to accept their Prizes. These are physically handed to them by genuine (and genuinely bemused) Nobel Laureates. Thousands more, around the world, watch the live broadcast online. During these pandemic years, the ceremony happened entirely online.

Magazine (Annals of Improbable Research)

Real research, about anything and everything, from everywhere — research that’s maybe good or bad, important or trivial, valuable or worthless. Compiled for you, by the producers of the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. Six (6) new Improbable magazine issues every year!

About Marc Abrahams

Le Monde called Marc “pape de la science improbable” [the Pope of improbable science]. The Washington Post called him “the nation’s guru of academic grunge.” The Journal of the American Medical Association called him “the Puck of Science.” He has been called many other things. The Guardian said Marc’s writing is “rationalism taken to intoxicating extremes“.