First Nobel Prizes awarded

The Ig Nobel Prize (), also known as the Ig Nobels or simply the Ig's, is a satirical prize awarded annually since 1991 to promote public engagement with scientific research. Its aim is to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think". The award parodies the Nobel Prize and is named after Ignatius Nobel, a fictional cousin of the Nobel Prize's founder, Alfred Nobel. The name is also a pun on the word ignoble. Most awards are for genuine scientific achievements with an unorthodox, obvious or humorous slant, while other awards are given ironically to various politicians, media figures, or promoters of pseudoscience.

Organized by the scientific humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research, the Ig Nobel Prizes are awarded in 10 categories each year, presented by Nobel laureates in a ceremony that was held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology or Harvard University until 2026, when the ceremony was moved to Zurich, Switzerland, due to safety concerns about international visitors entering the United States. The winners deliver 60-second acceptance speeches, and receive a low-quality home-made prize.

The ceremony contains a number of whimsical events and running jokes, including throwing paper planes onto the stage, competing to win a date with a Nobel laureate, and the "24/7" lectures where winners summarize their research in 24 seconds, then in seven words.