Marc Abrahams
Marc Abrahams | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1956 United States |
| Occupation(s) | Mathematician, editor |
| Years active | 1990–present |
| Known for | Co-founder and editor of Annals of Improbable Research; founder and host of the Ig Nobel Prize event |
Marc Abrahams (born 1956) is an American mathematician and editor specializing in scientific publications. He is widely recognized as the co-founder and editor of Annals of Improbable Research (AIR) and has served as the founder and host of the annual Ig Nobel Prize event since its inception in 1991. Prior to this, he held the editorial role at the Journal of Irreproducible Results.
Abrahams is married to Robin Abrahams, known professionally as "Miss Conduct," who contributes as a columnist to the Boston Globe.
A graduate of Harvard College with a degree in applied mathematics, Abrahams initially worked in software engineering. In 1990, he revived the previously inactive Journal of Irreproducible Results, which had been established by Israeli scientists Alex Kohn and Harry Lipkin. After four years managing the journal and organizing the inaugural Ig Nobel Prize ceremony in 1991, he departed due to insufficient publisher backing and subsequently founded AIR as a competing publication. By 2004, AIR celebrated its tenth anniversary, during which Abrahams expanded his work to include a daily blog, a monthly newsletter, a column for The Guardian, and several related books.
Bibliography
Works authored by Abrahams include:
- This Is Improbable ()
- The Ig Nobel Prizes ()
- Why Chickens Prefer Beautiful Humans ()
- Sex As a Heap of Malfunctioning Rubble ()
- The Best of "Annals of Improbable Research" ()
- The Man Who Tried to Clone Himself ()
External links
- Annals of Improbable Research
- Ig Nobel Prize website
- "Laugh first, think later" (Abrahams' narrative on JIR and AIR), The Guardian, June 1, 2004
- "A science award that makes you laugh, then think" (TEDMED 2014)