发信人: yahooyahoo (行路人), 信区: Science
标  题: Ig Nobel
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Sat Oct  8 11:09:11 2005)

http://www.nature.com/news/2005/051003/full/051003-13.html

十月的第一个周四在哈佛大学是一个与众不同的日子。在这一天，轻浮代替了庄重，非理
性压倒了理性，纸飞机漫天飞舞。因为昨天晚上喧闹的人们在哈佛桑德斯剧院举办了第十
五届傻瓜诺贝尔奖颁奖典礼。
来自十二个国家的获奖者分享了十个奖项。一些获奖者自遥远的澳大利亚，日本，和新西
兰专程赶来接受这个“Ig”奖。此一奖项的目的在于奖励那些“先逗你笑，然后促使你思
考”的科学研究。
四个真正的诺贝尔奖得主参加了这一届颁奖典礼，其中包括因共同发现宇宙微波辐射背景
而获得1978年物理学奖的Robert Wilson。这些科学家的出席使这届大会争加了分量，也
表示这些著名的科学家对这一奖项的态度。
Wilson同时也是“与诺贝尔奖得主约会”竞赛的奖品。大会主持人戏称他可以帮助你发现
你自己的大爆炸，如果你够幸运的话。

生物奖由一个国际化的研究小组获得，他们辨别131种受惊的青蛙分泌的气味并把它们分
类。明尼苏达大学的两名学者证明人可以在糖浆里游的像在水中一样快，并因此得到化学
奖。

流体力学奖颁给了欧洲的研究人员，他们评估了企鹅大便所必需的压力。密苏里的Gregg
Miller赢得了医学奖由于他发明了人造狗睾丸，包括三种不同的尺寸和硬度。澳大利亚
Queensland大学的John Mainstone因沥青液滴试验得到物理学奖，这个试验由另一得奖人
开始于1927年，这个实验表明看上去是固体的焦油衍生物可以表现出液体的性质，每九年
形成一个液滴。

Mainstone支持Ig奖并不只是因为他今年获奖。这名退休的物理学家认为，由于竞争科研
资金的压力，科学已经成为一场“老鼠的竞赛”，科学家需要短暂的休息。他说，如果我
们不能看到科学的有趣味的一面，那末科学就没有意义了。

哈佛物理学家，今年诺贝尔物理奖得主Roy Glauber受到大会的特别感谢。Glauber在之前
的十届Ig典礼上作为“正式碎屑清扫工”为大会服务，主要工作是清理观众扔上台的纸飞
机。

http://www.improb.com/ig/ig-pastwinners.html
AGRICULTURAL HISTORY: James Watson of Massey University, New Zealand, for his
scholarly study, "The Significance of Mr. Richard Buckley’s Exploding
Trousers."
REFERENCE: "The Significance of Mr. Richard Buckley’s Exploding Trousers:
Reflections on an Aspect of Technological Change in New Zealand Dairy-Farming
between the World Wars," James Watson, Agricultural History, vol. 78, no. 3,
Summer 2004, pp. 346-60.
WHO ATTENDED THE IG NOBEL CEREMONY: James Watson
PHYSICS: John Mainstone and the late Thomas Parnell of the University of
Queensland, Australia, for patiently conducting an experiment that began in
the year 1927 -- in which a glob of congealed black tar has been slowly,
slowly dripping through a funnel, at a rate of approximately one drop every
nine years.
REFERENCE: "The Pitch Drop Experiment," R. Edgeworth, B.J. Dalton and T.
Parnell, European Journal of Physics, 1984, pp. 198-200.
WHO ATTENDED THE IG NOBEL CEREMONY: John Mainstone
MEDICINE: Gregg A. Miller of Oak Grove, Missouri, for inventing Neuticles --
artificial replacement testicles for dogs, which are available in three sizes,
and three degrees of firmness.
REFERENCES: US Patent #5868140, and the book Going Going NUTS!, by Gregg A.
Miller, PublishAmerica, 2004, ISBN 1413753167.
ACCEPTING: "The winner was unable to travel, and deliverd his acceptance
speech via videotape."
LITERATURE: The Internet entrepreneurs of Nigeria, for creating and then using
e-mail to distribute a bold series of short stories, thus introducing
millions of readers to a cast of rich characters -- General Sani Abacha, Mrs.
Mariam Sanni Abacha, Barrister Jon A Mbeki Esq., and others -- each of whom
requires just a small amount of expense money so as to obtain access to the
great wealth to which they are entitled and which they would like to share
with the kind person who assists them.
PEACE: Claire Rind and Peter Simmons of Newcastle University, in the U.K., for
electrically monitoring the activity of a brain cell in a locust while that
locust was watching selected highlights from the movie "Star Wars."
REFERENCE: "Orthopteran DCMD Neuron: A Reevaluation of Responses to Moving
Objects. I. Selective Responses to Approaching Objects," F.C. Rind and P.J.
Simmons, Journal of Neurophysiology, vol. 68, no. 5, November 1992, pp. 1654-
66.
WHO ATTENDED THE IG NOBEL CEREMONY: Claire Rind
ECONOMICS: Gauri Nanda of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for
inventing an alarm clock that runs away and hides, repeatedly, thus ensuring
that people DO get out of bed, and thus theoretically adding many productive
hours to the workday.
WHO ATTENDED THE IG NOBEL CEREMONY: Gauri Nanda
CHEMISTRY: Edward Cussler of the University of Minnesota and Brian
Gettelfinger of the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin,
for conducting a careful experiment to settle the longstanding scientific
question: can people swim faster in syrup or in water?
REFERENCE: "Will Humans Swim Faster or Slower in Syrup?" American Institute of
Chemical Engineers Journal, Brian Gettelfinger and E. L. Cussler, vol. 50, no
. 11, October 2004, pp. 2646-7.
WHO ATTENDED THE IG NOBEL CEREMONY: Brian Gettelfinger and Edward Cussler
BIOLOGY: Benjamin Smith of the University of Adelaide, Australia and the
University of Toronto, Canada and the Firmenich perfume company, Geneva,
Switzerland, and ChemComm Enterprises, Archamps, France; Craig Williams of
James Cook University and the University of South Australia; Michael Tyler of
the University of Adelaide; Brian Williams of the University of Adelaide; and
Yoji Hayasaka of the Australian Wine Research Institute; for painstakingly
smelling and cataloging the peculiar odors produced by 131 different species
of frogs when the frogs were feeling stressed.
REFERENCE: "A Survey of Frog Odorous Secretions, Their Possible Functions and
Phylogenetic Significance," Benjamin P.C. Smith, Craig R. Williams, Michael J.
Tyler, and Brian D. Williams, Applied Herpetology, vol. 2, no. 1-2, February
1, 2004, pp. 47-82.
REFERENCE: "Chemical and Olfactory Characterization of Odorous Compounds and
Their Precursors in the Parotoid Gland Secretion of the Green Tree Frog,
Litoria caerulea," Benjamin P.C. Smith, Michael J. Tyler, Brian D. Williams,
and Yoji Hayasaka, Journal of Chemical Ecology, vol. 29, no. 9, September 2003
.
WHO ATTENDED THE IG NOBEL CEREMONY: Ben Smith and Craig Williams
NUTRITION: Dr. Yoshiro Nakamats of Tokyo, Japan, for photographing and
retrospectively analyzing every meal he has consumed during a period of 34
years (and counting).
WHO ATTENDED THE IG NOBEL CEREMONY: Dr. Yoshiro Nakamats
FLUID DYNAMICS: Victor Benno Meyer-Rochow of International University Bremen,
Germany and the University of Oulu , Finland; and Jozsef Gal of Loránd E&ouml
;tvös University, Hungary, for using basic principles of physics to
calculate the pressure that builds up inside a penguin, as detailed in their
report "Pressures Produced When Penguins Pooh -- Calculations on Avian
Defaecation."
PUBLISHED IN: Polar Biology, vol. 27, 2003, pp. 56-8.
ACCEPTING: The winners were unable to attend the ceremony because they could
not obtain United States visas to visit the United States. Dr. Meyer-Rochow
sent an acceptance speech via videotape.
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