of gas mask bra honoured with ig nobel prize

Gas mask bra honoured with IgNobel prize: The 2009 Ig Nobel Prizes were awarded at the 19th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony held at Harvard University's Sanders Theatre. The Ig Nobel awards is a cheeky counterpoint to the Nobel prizes given out by the Harvard-based magazine Annals of Improbable Research. This year, Dr Elena Bodnar won the Public Health prize for their patented design: Gas mask bra, a brassiere that can be quickly converted into a pair of face masks in event of an emergency. One for the brassiere wearer and the other to a needy bystander.


Dr Bodnar with Nobel laureates Wolfgang Ketterle (left), Orhan Pamuk, and Paul Krugman (right).

PUBLIC HEALTH PRIZE: Elena N. Bodnar, Raphael C. Lee, and Sandra Marijan of Chicago, Illinois, USA, for inventing a brassiere that, in an emergency, can be quickly converted into a pair of protective face masks, one for the brassiere wearer and one to be given to some needy bystander.

REFERENCE: U.S. patent # 7255627, granted August 14, 2007 for a “Garment Device Convertible to One or More Facemasks.”