Ig Nobel Prizes Shift to Zurich Amid US Visa Worries, Breaking 35-Year Tradition
In a significant departure from tradition, the annual Ig Nobel Prizes ceremony is relocating from the United States to Europe for the very first time in its 35-year history. Organisers announced on Monday that the 36th edition of the event, which celebrates scientific achievements that "first make people laugh, then think," will now be held in Zurich, Switzerland. This move is directly attributed to mounting concerns over attendees' ability to secure US travel visas.
Visa Insecurity Forces Historic Move
Marc Abrahams, the master of ceremonies and editor of the organising digital magazine, Annals of Improbable Research, explained the decision in an email to The Associated Press. "During the past year, it has become unsafe for our guests to visit the country," Abrahams stated. He emphasised that organisers could not, in good conscience, ask new winners or the international journalists covering the event to travel to the USA this year.
This relocation comes against a backdrop of heightened immigration scrutiny in the United States, which has recently focused on deporting undocumented migrants and tightening regulations around student and visitor exchange visas. For over three decades, winners have consistently travelled to the US to receive their quirky accolades, often celebrated with a whimsical shower of paper airplanes at prestigious institutions like Harvard University, MIT, and Boston University.
Zurich Steps In as New Host City
The 36th annual ceremony, typically held in the US a few weeks before the actual Nobel Prizes, will now take place in Zurich. This year's event is a collaboration with institutions of the ETH Domain, part of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and the University of Zurich. Abrahams praised Switzerland, noting it has nurtured many unexpected good things—from Albert Einstein's physics to the cuckoo clock—and is again helping the world appreciate improbable people and ideas.
Milo Puhan, an epidemiologist at the University of Zurich and a 2017 Swiss Ig Nobel laureate, welcomed the relocation. Puhan, whose research demonstrated that playing the didgeridoo can reduce snoring and sleep apnea, remarked, "The Ig Nobel Prize makes research visible, and does so with a wink." Abrahams confirmed that Zurich will host the ceremony every other year, with other European cities taking turns in between. There are currently no immediate plans for the ceremony to return to the United States.
Past Winners and Notable Absences
The awards highlight truly unusual and imaginative scientific endeavours from around the globe. Last year's honorees included:
- A Japanese team that studied whether painting cows with zebra-like stripes could prevent fly bites.
- An African and European group that explored the culinary preferences of lizards, including what types of pizza they might enjoy.
- A European team that found drinking alcohol can sometimes improve foreign language speaking ability.
- A researcher who dedicated decades to studying fingernail growth.
Significantly, four of the ten winners last year opted not to travel to Boston for the ceremony, underscoring the growing visa-related challenges. The relocation to Zurich aims to ensure broader international participation and maintain the event's whimsical, global spirit in the face of these logistical hurdles.
