2026 Ig Nobel Prizes (36th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony)

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The 2026 Ig Nobel Prizes will be awarded at the 36th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, on Thursday evening, September 3, 2026. The ceremony, as per tradition, will also be webcast. The previous 35 ceremonies all took place in the USA, in Cambridge/Boston. In a break from tradition, this year’s ceremony will take place in Zürich, Switzerland.

The basic info: The Ceremony (and webcast) on September 3, 2026

WHEN/WHERE: This year’s ceremony will happen on Thursday, September 3, 2026, 7:00 pm (CET), at Kongresshaus Zürich, Claridenstrasse 5, Zürich, Switzerland.

WHAT: Ten new Ig Nobel Prize winners will be introduced — each has done something that makes people LAUGH, then THINK. A gaggle of amused genuine Nobel Prize winners will physically hand the prizes to the new Ig Nobel Prize winners.

TICKETS TICKETS TICKETS TICKETS TICKETS to attend the ceremony in person went on sale May 12. The tickets sold out within a few days. [There is a chance that a few tickets will become available. You might want to check the ticket site occasionally to see.]

• REGULAR TICKETS: 89 CHF
• STUDENT TICKETS (Up to PhD-student level. Please show student ID at the door.): 59 CHF
• BILLIONAIRE TICKETS (Expressly for people who want to financially support the Ig Nobel Prizes! Each billionaire-ticket holder will receive a Zimbabwean 1-billion-dollar bill.): 500 CHF
• MILLIONAIRE TICKETS (Expressly for people who want to financially support the Ig Nobel Prizes! Each millionaire-ticket holder will receive a Zimbabwean 1-million-dollar bill.): 250 CHF
• GROUP TICKETS: If your group wants to be recognized during the ceremony as an OFFICIAL DELEGATION, first purchase your tickets, then email us at zurich@improbable.com Minimum OFFICIAL DELEGATION size is ten (10). Maximum OFFICIAL DELEGATION size is one thousand (1000).

WEBCAST, and WATCH PARTIES: The 2026 ceremony will be webcast. (This will be the 32nd straight year — the 1995 Ig Nobel ceremony was one of the very first events ever to be webcast). Watch parties will happen in many countries, some small and informal, some large. You can download a guide for organizing a Watch Party. (If your organization would like to host an Official Ig Nobel Watch Party, and thus be mentioned admiringly during the ceremony and also on this web page, email us at <zurich@improbable.com>. This involves a few formalities. ) There will be OFFICIAL WATCH PARTIES in Flanders (University of Antwerp), The Netherlands (Utrecht University), Germany (DESY, Hamburg), France (Université Paris Science & Lettres), Cambridge, Massachusetts (Swissnex), and other places to be announced — and many unofficial watch parties (create you own!) in lots of places.

IG NOBEL FACE-to-FACE in ZURICH: A related event, called “Ig Nobel Face-to-Face”, will happen the next afternoon, Friday, September 4, 2026, 2:00 pm, at Hörsaal Universität Zürich, University of Zürich, Rämistrasse 71, Zürich. The new Ig Nobel Prize winners will ask each other questions about their work. The Face-to-Face event is free. Seating is limited, so we advise arriving a bit early. (The Ig Nobel Face-to-Face event will not be webcast. We will later produce an edited video of the event.)

[THREE WEEKS LATER] BOST-Ig, A CELEBRATION IN CAMBRIDGE, USA, at the Swiss Consulate, Swissnex, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 6:00-7:00 pm, then light refreshments (doors open 5:30). This is a small (small because space is very limited) celebration event. A few of the new Ig Nobel Prize winners will do a short informal talks, as will Ig Nobel founder Marc Abrahams. There will be a performance of three Tom Lehrer songs (Tom, who died last year, helped with several of the early Ig Nobel ceremonies) by Amanda Palmer and Dr. Thomas Michel (who each have performed in and helped organize many Ig Nobel Prize ceremonies), and a short display/talk by Louise Reilly Sacco (who also has performed in and helped organize many Ig Nobel Prize ceremonies) of science-related paintings from MOBA, the Museum of Bad Art. And there will be jolly conversation with the audience. Details TBA.

[SOME WEEKS LATER] IG NOBEL FACE-to-FACE IN TOKYO, JAPAN…. The Miraikan science museum, in Tokyo, will again host a gala Ig Nobel Face-to-Face event. Date and other details TBA.

(Curious about the previous year? Take a peek at the 2025 Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony!)  Watch on YouTube