At the 29
th First Annual Ig Noble Prize Award ceremony where "achievements that make people laugh, and then think" are honored, the prize for chemistry went to Paula M.S. Romao, Adilia M. Alarcao, and the late Cesar A.N. Viane for their work on “human saliva as a good cleaning agent for dirty surfaces” which was published in Studies in Conservation Volume 35 (1990). Better late than never for such recognition. Accepting for the authors at the September 13, 2018 ceremony in Cambridge, MA was Francesca Bewer of the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, Harvard Art Museums. Bewer’s brilliant demonstration can be seen below.
With this award, conservation has made the big leagues.
#Straus_Center