The winners of Ig Nobel prize 2009 are announced today. Similar to the Nobel Prizes, the Ig Nobel Prizes are given every year in early October – around the time the recipients of the genuine Nobel Prizes are announced. The prizes intend to celebrate the unusual, honour the imaginative – and increase people’s interest in science, medicine and technology. All the prizes are awarded for real achievements. Actually the Ig Nobel Prizes are a parody of the Nobel Prizes and are given for 10 achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think”. It is Organized by the scientific humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research (AIR), they are presented by a group that includes genuine Nobel Laureates at a ceremony at Harvard University’s Sanders Theater. Nobel prize are given in 10 catagories named Veterinary medicine, Peace, Biology, Medicine, Economics, Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Publica Health and Mathematics. Following are the winners of Ig Nobel prize 2009 in different catagories:
Veterinary medicine: Catherine Douglas and Peter Rowlinson of Newcastle University, UK, for showing that cows with names give more milk than the cows that
are nameless.
Peace: Stephan Bolliger, Steffen Ross, Lars Oesterhelweg, Michael Thali and Beat Kneubuehl of the University of Bern, Switzerland, for determining whether it
is better to be smashed over the head with a full bottle of beer or with an empty bottle.
showing that kitchen refuse can be reduced by 90% in masses by using bacteria extracted from the feces of giant pandas.
Medicine: Donald L. Unger of Thousand Oaks, California, US, for investigating a possible cause of arthritis of the fingers, by diligently cracking the
knuckles of his left hand but not his right hand every day for more than 60 years.
Economics: The directors, executives, and auditors of four Icelandic banks – Kaupthing Bank, Landsbanki, Glitnir Bank, and Central Bank of Iceland – for
demonstrating that tiny banks can be rapidly transformed into huge banks, and vice versa.
Physics: Katherine K. Whitcome of the University of Cincinnati, Daniel E Lieberman of Harvard University and Liza J. Shapiro of the University of Texas, all
in the US, for analytically determining why pregnant women do not tip over.
Chemistry: Javier Morales, Miguel Apatiga and Victor M. Castano of Universidad Nacional Autonoma in Mexico, for creating a diamond film from tequila.
Literature: Ireland’s police service for writing and presenting more than 50 traffic tickets to the most frequent driving offender in the country – Prawo
Jazdy – whose name in Polish means “Driving Licence”.
Public Health: Raphael C. Lee, Elena N. Bodnar, and Sandra Marijan of Chicago, for inventing a bra that can be quickly converted into a pair of gas masks –
one for the wearer and one to be given to a needy bystander.
Mathematics: Gideon Gono, governor of Zimbabwe’s Reserve Bank, for giving people a way to cope with a wide range of numbers by having his bank print notes
with denominations ranging from one cent to one hundred trillion dollars.
