Dr. Giacomo Bartolucci, a ‘Juan de la Cierva’ postdoctoral researcher in the Condensed Matter Physics Department of the Faculty of Physics of the University of Barcelona and member of our institute, has been awarded the Ig Nobel Prize 2025 in Physics. ‘Phase behavior of Cacio e Pepe sauce’ is the title of the science paper that won the Physics category at the 35th annual award ceremony held at the University of Boston in the United States. It was published in the journal Physics of Fluids in April 2025.
Bartolucci heads the award-winning group of scientists, which includes Daniel M. Busiello, Matteo Ciarchi, Alberto Corticelli, Ivan Di Terlizzi and Vincenzo M. Schimmenti, from the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems (Dresden, Germany); Fabrizio Olmeda, from the Austrian Institute of Science and Technology, and Davide Revignas, from the University of Padua (Italy).
The Ig Nobel Prizes have become a crucial event that honors the most innovative and captivating studies and discoveries, while also fostering a blend of science and humor. The research of Dr. Bartolucci and his team accepts the challenge of achieving the creamiest and tastiest formula for the Italian sauce ‘cacio e pepe’, made with pecorino cheese and pepper. Following a systematic examination of the phase behavior of this sauce, which emphasized its stability at escalating temperatures for a variety of cheese, water and starch ratios, they arrived at an unexpected conclusion: the concentration of starch is the primary factor that affects the sauce’s stability. A discovery that will surely be very revealing for professionals in the kitchen.
As surprising as the prize itself was the process leading up to the award ceremony. Giacomo himself, very excited, explained it to us. The truth is that they knew since March they had won the Ig Nobel in Physics! “This was super unexpected; we couldn’t really believe it! (…) But we had to hold the secret, and this was a tricky duty. We wanted to share this with our friends and colleagues so badly!”, he assures UBICS.
Encouraged by Marc Abrahams, the event organizer and founder of the Annals of Improbable Research, the group of scientists prepared a sketch to receive the award in a way that neither they nor the audience will ever forget The video of the ceremony and the photographs that Dr. Bartolucci has generously shared with us depict seven of the eight authors of the study occupying the stage while dressed as chefs and playing the mandolin. “It was truly unbelievable. After the show, we signed the mandolin and gifted it to Marc”, he continues, “then we went to celebrate with our families and friends who accompanied us on this journey. It was the perfect ending of a project that originated from our collective dinners in Dresden!”.
An award for the physics of a tasty sauce with a flavor of amazing adventure and a thrilling reunion: “It was a joy, because now we don’t see each other very often since I’m in Barcelona, Fabrizio in Vienna, Daniel and Davide in Padua, and the rest are still in Dresden”.