( CNN ) At first Raymond Goldstein thought he 'd received a spam email . The message to the Cambridge University physicist was asking for help working out the dynamics of hair , specifically the shape of ponytails . Goldstein thought he 'd `` won the Nigerian lottery . '' Poised to click delete , he scrolled through the message one more time and discovered it was from global consumer goods giant Unilever . Curiosity piqued , he met with a company representative , and the rest , as they say , is history . Assembling a team of balding physicists , Goldstein set out to tackle the subject , publishing their research in a peer review journal . It detailed the fluid mechanics of hair , drawing on a rich seam of scientific observation stretching back to Da Vinci . They even coined a new term : hairodynamics . Attention from the scientific community soon followed , and within a year they were collecting a Nobel Prize . An Ig Nobel Prize , that is . A satirical cousin to the more esteemed Swedish award , the Ig Nobel seeks to highlight research that first makes you laugh , then makes you think . This year marks their 25th anniversary , so what better time to celebrate the Ig Nobels ' contribution to the research community ? Every year thousands vie for the awards -- `` always sourced from the cheapest materials '' according to founder Marc Abrahams -- held at Harvard University . The ceremony is bathos at its finest . Winners receive their awards from genuine Nobel laureates , but speeches are curtailed by a screaming girl declaring her boredom . Each year a cast of professional singers and scientists perform a mini-opera . Last year 's was set to Mozart and featured a chorus of microbial bacteria . Past recipients include a man who dressed up as a polar bear to scare reindeer and a study of homosexual necrophilia among mallard ducks ( commended by Abrahams for `` its high literary quality '' ) . However , not all winners can have such high scientific kudos . The Ig Nobels skewered the U.S. Government in 2012 , awarding them the Prize for Literature `` for issuing a report about reports about reports that recommends the preparation of a report about the report about reports about reports . '' You can read it here . In 2009 the Math Prize went to Gideon Gono , then head of Zimbabwe 's Reserve Bank , for printing a Z $ 100 trillion note ( while also printing 1c ) . Last year the Italian National Institute of Statistics landed the Economics Prize for bringing the country out of recession through the use of prostitutes , drugs and smuggling . ( The Italian government ended up setting a precedent in Europe , with the UK soon including the so-called `` black economy '' in its figures -- national GDP jumped by 5 % that quarter , equivalent to $ 15 billion . ) As proved by the Ig Nobels , the line between ridiculous and serious research has always been blurred . This is no better reflected than in Dutch-British physicist Andre Geim . In 2000 Geim scooped the Ig Nobel for Biology for using magnets to levitate frogs . Ten years later he went on to receive the Nobel Prize in Physics for his `` groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene . '' It is hard to say which is the greater achievement . Abrahams is currently touring the UK touting the Igs , supported by previous winners such as Goldstein and potential candidates like David Dunstan , who found fame by conducting a two year study into the homing properties of garden snails ( his modus operandi : throwing them over the garden fence ) . Soon Abrahams will have to settle down and sift through what he predicts will be about 9,000 entries , before the anniversary ceremony on September 17 . Despite his longstanding and much admired pastiche of the Nobels , he is still yet to be invited to Stockholm for the awards proper . Asked if he would attend if offered the opportunity , Abrahams demurs , saying `` he would n't want to be a distraction . '' And as for what the Nobel Prize could learn from his own mischievous creation ? `` Absolutely nothing . '' Read more from Make , Create , Innovate : . Great photos from the world 's smallest satellites . So long , transistor : How the 'memristor ' could revolutionize electronics . Laser procedure can turn brown eyes blue .
The Ig Nobel Prizes will celebrate their 25th anniversary in September this year . Previous winners of the satirical awards have gone on to win an actual Nobel Prize .