Improbable Research

The Nano-Lectures

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As part of the Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, and especially in honor of this year’s ceremony theme —“Nano” — five of the world’s great thinkers were invited to give Nano-Lectures.

Each Nano-Lecture was on an assigned topic. The lecturer was asked to explain that topic twice:
• FIRST, a complete technical description  in TWENTY-FOUR (24) SECONDS;
• and THEN a clear summary that anyone  can understand, in SEVEN (7) WORDS.

The time and word limits were enforced by the Ig Nobel referee, Mr. John Barrett, and the Ig Nobel V-Chip Monitor, prominent New York attorney William J. Maloney.

Here are the complete transcripts of this year’s Nano-Lectures. Click to see each one:

• Lene Hau
• Yan Emily Yuan
• William Lipscomb
• Genevieve Reynolds
• Eric Lander

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This page is an overview (with an index) of the 5-part series. Click the links at the top of the page to see the body of the article.

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