The title of this column does not contain a typo. I’m sure most of you have heard of the more famous Nobel Prize. Its lesser-known cousin, the Ig Nobel Prize, was created in 1991 by Mark Abrahams the editor and cofounder of the “Annals of Improbable Research.” Ig Nobel is a play on the actual word ignoble, meaning not noble and without honor. To avoid any confusion in my column, I invented the shorthand “Iggy” when referring to the subject herein.

The Iggy was conceived as a way to point out the fun and quirky side of science. The award aims to celebrate the imagination and unusual research that people do in the name of science, medicine and technology. The awards are actually presented by Nobel laureates which adds a sense of legitimacy and prestige to the otherwise humorous events.

Each year 10 prizes are awarded, and the winners are invited to give lectures about their work. The ceremony is highlighted with many quirky traditions held at Harvard University’s Sanders Theater. The ceremony features many operas, lots of paper airplane throwing and 24/7 lectures where contestants are given 24 seconds to explain their work and then 7 words to summarize it. One of the most beloved traditions is something called Miss Sweetie Poo. A young girl is tasked with keeping acceptance speeches short. If a winner’s speech goes on for too long, she will approach the podium and repeatedly say “please stop I’m bored” until the speaker wraps up his presentation.

To give my readers a taste of the type of fields that are rewarded with prizes let’s look at a few. The Iggy for Medicine in 1998 went to a team of researchers who discovered that the presence of humans tends to sexually arouse ostriches. In 2006 Howard Stapleton won the Iggy in the Peace category for inventing a teenage repellent device that emits a high-pitched sound only audible to young people.

The Iggy is primarily intended to entertain but they also have a more profound purpose by highlighting unconventional and bizarre research. The awards encourage scientists to think outside the box and explore unusual ideas. The organization hopes that it will help demystify science and make it more accessible to the general public. While word of scientific achievements in general are often seen as dry or inaccessible, the Iggy offers a refreshing change and perspective.

In 2000 Andre Geim won the Iggy in Physics for work about levitating a frog using magnets. His work demonstrated the phenomenon known as geomagnetic levitation where objects are levitated using a strong magnetic field. The levitating frog has become the symbol of the playful and imaginative spirit of the Iggy. What is even more fascinating is that Andre Geim went on to win a real Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010. So far, he is the only person to have won both an Iggy and a Nobel Prize. 

Here are some winners of a 2024 Iggy. The prize for Botany went to Jacob White and Philippe Yamashita who discovered that some plants can mimic the shapes of neighboring artificial plastic plants. The 2024 Anatomy Iggy went to Maryjolaine Williams whose team examined whether the hair on people’s heads swirls in the same direction depending on the hemisphere. The Iggy in Probability went to France Baros who showed that a flipped coin tends to land on the same side it started.

If you have ever walked on a crowded sidewalk, you will appreciate the Iggy in Physics that went to the team that studied the movement of pedestrians in crowded spaces. They found that people tend to eventually synchronize their steps when walking in groups.

In 2021 the Iggy in Ecology went to a team of scientists who used genetic analysis to identify the different species of bacteria found and discovered in discarded chewing gum on the sidewalk.

The wide range of prizes highlights the surprisingly diverse nature of research that is celebrated by the committee. Each study while seemingly odd or humorous contributes to our understanding of the world in unexpected ways and hopefully opens up your mind to explore what is going on around you, I would hope that someday an Iggy for Nomenclature would be given to me for devising the name “Iggy.”

Hudson Cooper is a resident of Sullivan County, a writer, comedian and actor.