We were informed today that the author of a mathematics paper has been awarded an Ig Nobel Prize. This is a surprise to us, because we award the Ig Nobel Prizes, and we are unaware that we ever awarded anything to this person, Donald J. Trump. The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people laugh, then think.
The mathematics paper is called “Proof of the Riemann Hypothesis utilizing the theory of Alternative Facts“. Donald J. Trump is credited as the author.
The paper carries the publication date January 24, 2017. The most recent Ig Nobel Prize ceremony was held four months earlier, on September 22, 2016, at Harvard University. Donald J. Trump was not among the winners that day, nor in any of the previous 25 Ig Nobel Prize ceremonies.
We did some research, comparable in depth and value to the research described in the paper. We learn that Donald J. Trump is credited with authorship of other documents. Here is a much-self-circulated photo of Donald J. Trump, in which he is credited with authoring a document:
All we can say, having received the unexpected news, is this — Congratulations, in theory, to Mr. Donald J. Trump, no matter what his achievement is or isn’t, and no matter what he may be or not be.
BONUS: Some background info about the Riemann Hypothesis.
BONUS: A related historical note: The 2002 Ig Nobel Prize for economics was awarded (by us) to the executives, corporate directors, and auditors of twenty-some-odd corporations, for adapting the mathematical concept of imaginary numbers for use in the business world.
UPDATE (January 25, 2017, 11:20 am): We have just been informed that we are “not permitted, under United States law” to “publicly disclose” certain details of this matter. We are, as the saying goes, taking this under advisement.