What's On?
October 2, 2008 : Double win for Britain at the Ig Nobels
It's that time of year again, when scientists around the world wait nervously to hear who has joined that elite list of winners of the most prestigious prize in the business. But enough of the real Nobel prizes. They can wait until next week.
Last night, it was the turn of their subversive cousins, the Ig Nobels, those considerably less lucrative, but far more fun prizes, which reward research that makes people laugh first and think later.
This year, Britain can lay claim to two winners. David Sims of Cass Business School in London received the Ig Nobel for literature with his narrative exploration of bastards in the workplace. His research was prompted by a fascination of how seemingly fair and balanced people could suddenly abandon hopes of understanding another's viewpoint and instead write them off as a bastard. "There's almost a relief in branding someone a bastard, after spending years trying to accommodate their views. It's liberating," he told me before the ceremony.
The Ig Nobel UK Tour returns to The Centre for Life 9th March 2009. For more information see http://www.life.org.uk/lectures/.
The Guardian
