IgNobel Laureate

First, they make you laugh; then, they make you think

MY LATEST POSTS

Carl Linnaeus and Joseph Banks: Sex, scandals and science

Carl Linnaeus and Joseph Banks: Sex, scandals and science

My home village of Blackheath in Australia's beautiful Blue Mountains boasts many beautiful gardens, none more beautiful than the fifty year-old rhododendron gardens, maintained by an enthusiastic group of volunteers who are mostly older than the gardens themselves....

Catastrophes Small and Large: From Biscuit Dunking to our Global Future

Catastrophes Small and Large: From Biscuit Dunking to our Global Future

I appeared on the front page of Wikipedia today (April 7th 2021). “Did you know?” asked the editors “that Len Fisher won the 1999 Ig Nobel Prize for physics for his research on the optimal way to dunk a biscuit?” You may or may not have known this. Certainly the story...

Working Towards a More Humanistic Society

Working Towards a More Humanistic Society

Very excited to have been invited to speak at the Eighth International Conference on Humanistic Buddhism. I am not a Buddhist per se, but I have great sympathy with many of its aims, and especially with the all-permeating idea of interconnectedness. I will be talking...

How to make a perfect cheese sandwich

How to make a perfect cheese sandwich

Way back in 2003 the British Cheese Board asked me if I could work out scientifically the optimum amount of cheese to put in a cheese sandwich. Well, I did, by measuring the concentration of aroma released when I ate sandwiches made with different thicknesses of...

MY LATEST POSTS

MINI STORIES FROM SCIENCE

Carl Linnaeus and Joseph Banks: Sex, scandals and science

Carl Linnaeus and Joseph Banks: Sex, scandals and science

My home village of Blackheath in Australia's beautiful Blue Mountains boasts many beautiful gardens, none more beautiful than the fifty year-old rhododendron gardens, maintained by an enthusiastic group of volunteers who are mostly older than the gardens themselves....

STRAY THOUGHTS

Catastrophes Small and Large: From Biscuit Dunking to our Global Future

Catastrophes Small and Large: From Biscuit Dunking to our Global Future

I appeared on the front page of Wikipedia today (April 7th 2021). “Did you know?” asked the editors “that Len Fisher won the 1999 Ig Nobel Prize for physics for his research on the optimal way to dunk a biscuit?” You may or may not have known this. Certainly the story...

PLANNING FOR LIFE’S CRISES

Working Towards a More Humanistic Society

Working Towards a More Humanistic Society

Very excited to have been invited to speak at the Eighth International Conference on Humanistic Buddhism. I am not a Buddhist per se, but I have great sympathy with many of its aims, and especially with the all-permeating idea of interconnectedness. I will be talking...

FOOD & GASTRONOMY

How to make a perfect cheese sandwich

How to make a perfect cheese sandwich

Way back in 2003 the British Cheese Board asked me if I could work out scientifically the optimum amount of cheese to put in a cheese sandwich. Well, I did, by measuring the concentration of aroma released when I ate sandwiches made with different thicknesses of...

MY BOOKS

My books are aimed to help people see and understand the world through a scientist’s eyes, with a good leavening of humour, anecdote and the personal stories.

TESTIMONIALS

“Fisher is a master story-teller, making difficult scientific concepts seem simple through elegant exposition. Crashes, Crises and Calamities addresses the challenge of disaster prediction … by a brilliant and engaging integration of diverse scientific perspectives.”

Simon A. Levin, Moffett Professor of Biology, Princeton University; author of Fragile Dominion

“[Rock, Paper, Scissors is a] tour de force of exposition, with many amusing and enlightening vignettes of the application of game theory to real-world interactions in the home, amongst friends, in business, and in international relations.”

Professor Robert Marks, Winner of computer tournament on strategies for effective cooperation

“Scientists are constantly trying to make science accessible to the general public, but rarely are they as successful as physicist [Len] Fisher.”

Library Journal Review

“From locusts watching Star Wars to Murphy’s Law of Management, The Perfect Swarm hits all the buttons … a wonderful tour through the new mathematics of swarms, flocks and crowds.”

Ian Stewart, Author, Professor Stewart’s Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities

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