To round out our series on fluid dynamics in the Ig Nobel Prizes (which are not the same thing as the actual Nobel Prizes), here are some of the other winners. Last year Mayer and Krechetnikov won for a study on coffee sloshing when people walk. We’ve mentioned the pitch-drop experiment measuring the viscosity of an extremely viscous fluid a couple times; Mainstone and Parnell won a 2005 Ig Nobel for that (on-going) work. Another 2005 prize went to Meyer-Rochow and Gal for calculating the pressures involved in penguin defecation. (Yes, seriously.) A avian-related award was also handed out to B. Vonnegut for estimating tornado wind speeds by their ability to strip a chicken of its feathers. And, finally, for those looking to interest undergraduate lab students in mathematics and fluid dynamics, I suggest following the lead of 2002 winner A. Leike who demonstrates laws of exponential decay with beer head. (Photo credit: S. Depolo)
Other Ig Nobel Fluids
