Thursday, September 29, 2011

"2011 Ig Nobel Ceremony webcast tonight!"

!!!!
Last year Nobel prize co-winner in physics, Andre Geim became the first person in history to win both of the prestigious prizes!
Let's see what other brainiacs tonight's award ceremony introduces.
From Improbable Research:
Tonight’s the 21st First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony. 1200 people will have the privilege of watching it live, in-person at Sanders Theatre, Harvard University.
Many more will have the opportunity to watch it live on the internet.

The webcast will be available here on Improbable.com, at the Improbable Research YouTube channel and at finer media outposts around the world and across the World Wide Web.

One of our technology partners, Elemental Technologies, will be hosting the webcast on their site.
Among the other websites hosting the webcast are such geeky luminaries as io9, BoingBoing, Scientific American, New Scientist, Central Science, Forest of Thoughts, and QI (Quite Interesting).

If you prefer a more traditional media experience, you may watch the webcast at sites like The Guardian, MSNBC, Fox News, The Huffington Post, CBC, ABC (Australia), Nashua Telegraph, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Metro Newspaper.

If your preferences tend towards the non-English, you may enjoy the webcast at such sites as Wyborcza (Poland), Veja (Brazil), Ansa (Italy), Publico (Portugal), Clarin (Argentina), Wetenschap24 (Netherlands), and UOL (Brazil).

The broadcast will begin at 7:30 PM (US Eastern Time) on September 29th, 2011. It will last between 90 minutes and two hours.
Previously:
Andre Geim First in History to Win Both the Nobel and the IgNobel Prizes
The folks at Improbable Research (on blogroll at left) must be saying "We're so proud".
They recognized Mr. Geim's genius back in 2000 for his pioneering work in in the field of frog levitataion.
The awards celebrate achievements that "cannot or should not be reproduced."
Here is the ref. for other scholars who wish to follow his path:

PHYSICS
Andre Geim of the University of Nijmegen (the Netherlands) and Sir Michael Berry of Bristol University (UK), for using magnets to levitate a frog. [REFERENCE: "Of Flying Frogs and Levitrons" by M.V. Berry and A.K. Geim, European Journal of Physics, v. 18, 1997, p. 307-13.] 
Radboud University Nijmegen's High Field Magnet Laboratory devotes a page of their website to the subject... 
The 2010 Nobel prizes: Physics--Graphene Researchers Geim and Novoselov Win
Unlike the Peace Prize, you have to actually do something to win this one.
Materials science, yeah baby!... 
Nobelprize.org interviews Physics Laureate Geim about his Ig Nobel

Also at improbable Research:
Scrotal cosmetic beagle implants

If you were tasked with implanting silicone gel testicular prostheses in a beagle dog, which would be the more effective procedure, “under the tunica albuginea” or “under the tunica vaginalis”?...

“One of the most coveted prizes in science”
2011
“Showered with paper airplanes, garlanded by admiring Nobel laureates, some of the world’s quirkiest scientists will be honoured at a sellout ceremony at Harvard University todayThe 21st annual Ig Nobel Prizes, conferred by the Annals of Improbable Research (AIR), have become one of the most coveted prizes in science. Bringing neither personal riches nor offers of future funding, the Ig Nobels do bestow a heavy dollop of cool on their winners who, collectively, seem to put the fizz in physics and the giggles in gigabytes.”
—So writes Victoria Lambert in The Daily Telegraph.
Meanwhile, in Italy:
Prima ridere e poi pensare,”  says La Repubblica.
And many more.
Also on Climateer Investing:
"Largest Group Of Nobel Laureates To Remove A Sword From Someone's Throat"
No, this isn't climate science. From THE UNIVERSAL RECORD DATABASE:
Largest Group Of Nobel Laureates To Remove A Sword From Someone's Throat

1 2 3 4 Next >
On October 1, 2009, during the 19th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony in Cambridge, Massachusetts, eight Nobel Prize Laureates removed a 22-inch solid steel sword from Ig Nobel Prize Laureate sword swallower Dan Meyer's throat.
The Nobel Laureates involved:
Rich Roberts
- Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine, 1993
Wolfgang Ketterle
- Nobel Prize in Physics, 2001
Dudley Herschbach
- Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1986
Paul Krugman
- Nobel Prize in Economics, 2008
Roy Glauber
- Nobel Prize in Physics, 2005
Frank Wilczek
- Nobel Prize in Physics, 2004
Martin Chalfie
- Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2008
William Lipscomb
- Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1976

CRITERIA TO BEAT RECORD:
- sword swallower must be a legitimate sword swallower officially verified and recognized by the Sword Swallowers Association International
- sword must be a solid steel non-retractable sword with a blade at least 15 inches in length
- Nobel Laureates must be recognized bonafide Nobel Laureates who have actually been awarded an official Nobel Prize
Click the pics to see the action.
HT: Improbable Research who stage the Ig® Nobels,last year's theme was RISK:
...(A full report, with action photos, appears in the Nov/Dec 2009 issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. Click here to see details and video of last year's (2008) ceremony, here to see the Improbable Research special issue about that ceremony. And for a journalist's view of the ceremony, read Steve Nadis's firsthand account.)

WEBCAST: After several exciting glitches, VIDEO of the ceremony is now online, in four parts:
Part 1: Pre-show Risk Cabaret Concert by The Penny-wise Guys, and the very, very beginning of the ceremony.
Part 2: Lots of introductions. Several past winners return. Benoit Mandelbrot's keynote address....MORE