​Lin Great Speakers Series to feature TED talk speaker Abrahams

Lin Great Speakers Series to feature TED talk speaker Abrahams

 ‘Science humorist’ set to entertain, enlighten St. Mary’s audience

What is a science humorist? If you haven’t seen Marc Abrahams’ TED talk, you’re about to find out.

Abrahams will present “Improbable Research and the Ig Nobel Prizes” at St. Mary’s University on Monday, April 27, at 7 p.m. as part of the Lin Great Speakers Series. The event will be held in Conference Room A of the University Center.

Abrahams is editor and co-founder of Annals of Improbable Research, a science humor magazine that publishes genuine research as well as satirical articles that make people laugh, then think. His lectures expose the humor and importance of science, medicine and technology. The Washington Post called him “the nation’s guru of academic grunge.”

His TED talk, “A science award that makes you laugh, then think,” in October 2014, focused on the Ig Nobel Prizes, which he created. The awards are handed out by genuine Nobel Laureates at a ceremony held at Harvard each year and broadcast on National Public Radio.

He graduated from Harvard University in 1978 with a degree in applied mathematics and spent several years afterward developing optical character recognition computer systems, including a reading machine for blind people.

Lin Great Speaker Series lectures are free and open to the public. On-campus parking is available in Lot D near the NW 36th Street entrance to campus and Lot H, near the Culebra Road entrance to campus.

A book signing and reception will follow his presentation. His book, “This Is Improbable Too,” will be available for purchase.

Since 1990, St. Mary’s University has offered the Lin Great Speakers Series to the public as a community service. The series is made possible by an endowment established in the memory of Shu Chi Lin by his widow, Chang Le-Chiao, and his son, Vincent Lin, an alumnus and former St. Mary’s faculty member.