The annual Ig Noble Awards are handed out every year at the same time the Nobel awards are given. Unlike the Nobel, which gave awards in science to those who found our universe is expanding, and therefore is mostly made of dark energy, this year the Ig Nobles gave their award to the great prophets (mostly American) who proclaimed the world would end.
This year’s awards went to:
Dorothy Martin of the USA (who predicted the world would end in 1954), Pat Robertson of the USA (who predicted the world would end in 1982), Elizabeth Clare Prophet of the USA (who predicted the world would end in 1990), Lee Jang Rim of KOREA (who predicted the world would end in 1992), Credonia Mwerinde of UGANDA (who predicted the world would end in 1999), and Harold Camping of the USA (who predicted the world would end on September 6, 1994 and later predicted that the world will end on October 21, 2011), for teaching the world to be careful when making mathematical assumptions and calculations.
The article goes on to mention many others throughout history who predicted the world’s end, a bit prematurely.