2011 Ig Nobel Tour of the UK
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| VIDEO: Watch the entire 2010 event at Imperial College London.AND... watch some highlights from the 2010 show at the University of Dundee. | |
PREVIEWS: Ian Visits, STV [video], BBC, The Scotsman. Sponsored by the British Science Association, Improbable Research, and the individual host institutions.
| March 10, 2011, Thursday, 7:00 pm. | London: SPECIAL PRE-TOUR EVENT. Core Restaurant/Grille/Cafe, 12 West End Quay, 1 South Wharf Road, W2 1JB London.We're calling this event Improbable Research After Dark, because some of the studies are on topics that might possibly, conceivably, theoretically, offend individuals who are prim, proper, and of high sensibility. We advise that anyone who is easily offended by anything should not come to this event.Tickets: Book tickets (£5) online. Please note this is an intimate venue — seating is extremely limited. | This event will be smaller, less formal, and have a different format and content than the events on the tour. It will consist of Ig Nobel organizer Marc Abrahams and an all-star lineup of scientists (including one or more Ig Nobel Prize winners), science journalists, and other colorful individuals. Each will do a simple, two-minute dramatic reading from a study that was honored with an Ig Nobel Prize.READERS INCLUDE: Fiona Barclay(@fbarclay), David Dobbs (@david_dobbs), Alexandra Feachem (@sashafeachem), Mark Henderson (@markgfh), Pallab Ghosh, Richard Grant (@rpg7twit), Valerie Jamieson (@valeriejamieson), Alasdair Kergon, Ig Nobel winner Chris McManus, Ania Lichtarowicz, Sean O'Neill, Jenny Rohn (@jennyrohn), Elaine Snell, Ed Yong(@edyong209), and perhaps others.Special thanks to Sid Rodrigues (@sidrodrigues) of Skeptics in the Pub for helping organize this event. Postshow report: 1 |
| March 13, 2011, Sunday, 6:30 pm. | Liverpool: The Cavern Club.Tickets: by invitation only. | Marc Abrahams, Elena Bodnar, John Hoyland, Kees Moeliker, Richard Stephens. And concluding with a dramatic reading from a beloved poemby the bad poet William Topaz McGonagall.Special thanks to Unilever. |
| March 15, 2011, Tuesday. 5:00 pm. | Hewlett Packard, Bristol. Long Down Avenue, Stoke Gifford, Bristol. Tickets: Contact Lucy Feilan (lucy.feilen@hp.com). They are free. (Click here for directions.) | Marc Abrahams, Piers Barnes, Dan Bebber, Elena Bodnar, John Hoyland, Gareth Jones. And concluding with a dramatic reading from a beloved poemby the bad poet William Topaz McGonagall.Special thanks to Hewlett-Packard. |
| March 16, 2011, Wednesday. Two shows: 1:30 pm and 6:30 pm. | New Brighton, Wirral. Floral Pavilion Theatre. (Click here for a map.)Tickets: Tickets are free. The afternoon show is now fully booked. There are a few tickets left for the evening show. Contact Caroline Cooper <Caroline.Cooper@unilever.com> | Marc Abrahams, Piers Barnes, Elena Bodnar, Mark Fricker, John Hoyland, Richard Stephens. And concluding with a dramatic reading from a beloved poemby the bad poet William Topaz McGonagall.Special thanks to Unilever. |
| March 17, 2011, Thursday, 5:55 pm | London. Imperial College. Great Hall, Level 2, Sherfield Building, South Kensington campus. (Click here for a map.)Tickets: Must be booked in advance from Book your tickets (max 2 per person) from the university. The event always books full. You are advised to reserve your tickets early. | Marc Abrahams, Dan Bebber,, Elena Bodnar, John Hoyland, Matija Strlic. And concluding with a dramatic reading from a beloved poemby the bad poet William Topaz McGonagall.Info: George Yeoghaki, g.yeorghaki@imperial.ac.ukPostshow reports: 1, 2, 3, 4 |
| March 19, 2011, Saturday, 6:00 pm. | Dundee. University of Dundee, Lecture Theatre, Dalhousie Building, Old Hawkhill. Tickets: Book your tickets (£5 each) at the university's online store. The event always books full. You are advised to reserve your tickets early. |
Marc Abrahams, Elena Bodnar, Steve Farrar, Matthew Jarron, Chris McManus, Kees Moeliker — and others to be announced.The evening will feature a special revelation — of no importance, but great historical interest—strong> two poems by the wretched poet William Topaz McGonagall, poems that have never been published in any book, and which almost certainly have not been performed for more than a century, if ever. [A companion Special Event — Part 2, if you will, will happen in Edinburgh on April 18.] Click here for info about the McGonagall discovery.Previews: BBC, STV (video), The Scotsman Info: Jonathan Urch, J.Urch@dundee.ac.uk Post-show reports: Some photos and videos from the event, and an eyewitness account. |
- Piers Barnes shared the 2006 Ig Nobel Mathematics Prize for calculating the number of photographs you must take to (almost) ensure that nobody in a group photo will have their eyes closed. He is a research associate in chemistry at Imperial College London
- Dan Bebber shared the 2010 Ig Nobel Prize in Transportation Planning, for using slime mold to determine the optimal routes for railroad tracks. He is based at the University of Oxford, where he is holds a Research Fellowship in Biology, teaching ecology and statistics. He is also the Head of Climate Change Research at the Earthwatch Institute.
- Elena Bodnar was awarded the 2009 Ig Nobel Prize winner in public health, for inventing a brassiere that, in an emergency, can be quickly converted into a pair of protective face masks, one for the brassiere wearer and one to be given to some needy bystander. This year she will demonstrate her new invention—a counterpart device to be worn by males. She is a physician, president of the Trauma Risk Management Institute in Chicago. She lived in Ukraine (where she treated victims of the Chernobyl power plant disaster) before moving to the United States.
- Steve Farrar will speak about the discovery of overlooked poems by the wretched poet William Topaz McGonagall. The discovery was made independently, first by Norman Watson in researching his magnificent new biography of McGonagall, then serendipitously by Farrar in the course of doing unrelated research. The two have joined forces to bring these long-overlooked poems into the light of day. Farrar is a historical writer, and former commissioning editor of the Times Higher Education Supplement, and also is the Improbable Research Edinburgh Desk Chief.
- Mark Fricker shared the 2010 Ig Nobel Prize in Transportation Planning, for using slime mold to determine the optimal routes for railroad tracks. He is based at the University of Oxford, where he is University Lecturer in Plant Sciences, and Academic Director of Pembroke College.
- John Hoyland created and edits the "Feedback" column in New Scientist Magazine. He will present a fresh batch of oddities. He had a celebrated public feud with John Lennon.
- Matthew Jarron will speak about (and display a few artifacts of) the wonders of D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson (who, among many other accomplishments, founded the museum). He (Jarron, not the late Thompson) is curator of museum services at the University of Dundee.
- Gareth Jones is a professor of biological sciences at the University of Bristol. At the London show he will elucidate his 2010 Ig Nobel Prize-winning study "Fellatio by Fruit Bats Prolongs Copulation Time". At the Bristol show he will also explain a second, equally intriguing research project.
- Chris McManus wrote the study "Scrotal Asymmetry in Man and in Ancient Sculpture," for which he later received the 2002 Ig Nobel Medicine Prize. He is Professor of Psychology and Medical Education at University College London.
- Kees Moeliker was awarded the 2003 Ig Nobel Biology Prize for documenting the first scientifically recorded case of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard ducks. He is curator of the Natural History Museum Rotterdam, and also the Improbable Research European Bureau Chief.
- Richard Stephens shared the 2010 Ig Nobel Peace Prize, for confirming the widely held belief that swearing relieves pain. He is lecturer in psychology at Keele University,
- Matija Strlic will discuss and perhaps to some extent demonstrate his monograph "Material Degradomics: On the Smell of Old Books". He is a senior lecturer at the Centre for Sustainable Heritage, University College London,