Ig Nobel Prize and Kerala

Kerala Agricultural University scientists

and the Ig nobel!

Nobels done, as we flipped through the list of awardees at the year’s Ig Nobels — that parallel, hilarious thing which happens every year after the Nobel ceremony – we couldn’t but notice a curious trend – Indians have consistently been there, year after year, getting awards for outrageous research and unfathomable findings of little consequence. Our small and seemingly insignificant research (which itself could merit an Ig Nobel) postulates a new theory to challenge a widely held western myth – the myth that Indians lack a sense of humour. (Most of those who make that comment are blissfully unaware of the phenomena called Bollywood or coalition politics!)

Former Indian PM Vajpayee (left) and his then Pakistani counterpart Sharif won the Ig Nobel for their 'aggressively peaceful explosions of atomic bombs'

Mathematics

Two Kerala scientists won the Ig for estimating the total surface area in Indian elephants

K.P. Sreekumar and the late G. Nirmalan of Kerala Agricultural University, for their analytical report "Estimation of the Total Surface Area in Indian Elephants"⁴.