In a sign of the times, the organizers of the annual Ig Nobel Awards have moved this year’s ceremony from the United States to Europe to eliminate potential concerns of those traveling to the U.S.
The 36th First Annual (not a typo!) Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony will be held in Zurich, Switzerland on September 3rd. According to Marc Abrahams, the editor of the Annuals of Improbable Research and master of ceremonies for the event, “it has become unsafe for our guests to visit the country…We cannot in good conscience ask the new winners or the international journalists who cover the event to travel to the USA this year.”
Not to be confused with the annual Nobel Prizes typically announced in early October in Oslo, Norway, the Ig Nobel Prizes “honor achievements that first make people laugh and then make them think.”
For those not able to travel to Zurich for the formal awards ceremony, Improbable Research will host a Celebration event honoring this year’s winners at Boston University in Boston on September 24th.
Additional details about the move of the 2026 Ig Nobel Awards Ceremony to Zurich is available at https://www.wcvb.com/article/ig-nobel-award-leaving-massachusetts-europe/70696819.
More information about the 2026 ceremony and other events is available at the Improbable Research website at https://improbable.com/upcoming-events/.
