Professor Marcus Byrne won the 2013

Ig Nobel Prize The Ig Nobel Prize () is a satirical prize awarded annually since 1991 to promote public engagement with scientific research. Its aim is to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." The name of the award is a ...

for Biology/Astronomy along with: Marie Dacke, Emily Baird, Clarke Scholtz, and Eric Warrant, for discovering that when

dung beetles Dung beetles are beetles that feed on feces. All species of dung beetle belong to the superfamily Scarabaeoidea, most of them to the subfamilies Scarabaeinae and Aphodiinae of the family Scarabaeidae (scarab beetles). As most species of Scara ...

get lost, they can navigate their way home by looking at the

Milky Way The Milky Way or Milky Way Galaxy is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the #Appearance, galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars in other arms of the galax ...

. This research has practical applications, for example helping how to develop complex visual systems. Byrne is a professor of zoology and entomology at Wits University in Johannesburg, South Africa. Byrne is the author of ''Dance of the Dung Beetles''.

References

External links

Staff page at Wits UniversityPersonal page
at the

National Research Foundation (South Africa) South Africa’s National Research Foundation (NRF) is the intermediary agency between the policies and strategies of the Government of South Africa and South Africa's research institutions. History It was established on 1 April 1999 as an ...

* *The Dance of the Dung Beetles https://archivewitspress.co.za/catalogue/dance-of-the-dung-beetles/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Byrne, Marcus Living people Alumni of the University of London Ig Nobel laureates South African entomologists South African zoologists Academic staff of the University of the Witwatersrand University of the Witwatersrand alumni Year of birth missing (living people)