The unveiling of the Nobel Prizes for 2014 began on Oct. 6th. The Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2014 was divided, with one half awarded to Professor John O'Keefe of University College London, and the other half jointly to Professor May-Britt Moser and her husband Professor Edvard I Moser of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology "for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain". The Mosers became the fifth couple in history to win the Nobel Prize.

Conventionally, the Nobel committee informs the winners and records their first reactions. The reactions of past winners vary significantly: some became ecstatic, some were calm, some seemed uninterested, and some, like this year's winner Edvard I Moser, even missed the phone call. Moser did not know about it until he got off a plane and found 120 missed calls on his cell.

"I thought it was a prank."

When Thomas C. Südhof, the winner of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2013, got the call, he was on his way to the city of Baeza in Spain to give a speech. "Honestly, I thought it was a prank, because a lot of my friends like to do tricks like that." Südhof is now a professor at Stanford University in the US, focusing on the mechanisms of neurotransmitter dependent hormone release from neuroendocrine cells.

Brian K. Kobilka, the winner of the 2012 Prize for Chemistry, was in California when he got the phone call. Everyone in the family was sleeping. He missed the first call: "I thought it was some kind of prank from my friends. But then I realized that I didn't have any friends with a Swedish accent," said Kobilka.

The winner of the 2011 Prize for Physics, Saul Perlmutter, was also asleep when he got the phone call. "The first phone call was from a Swedish journalist - he asked me how I felt. I had no idea what he was talking about. Then later I realized I had won the Nobel. My wife ran to the computer to make sure it was not a prank — Thank god it wasn't."

Ecstatic

John O'Keefe was working at home in London. He said he was ecstatic after he learned that he won the Nobel Prize.

Britt Moser was in a meeting when she got the phone call. She said she was shocked and then cried. Her only regret was that her husband was on a plane to Munich, so they could not share their initial happiness together.

The Australian scientist Barry J. Marshall, the winner of the 2005 Prize in Physiology or Medicine, said he was having beer with friends at a bar. After learning that he had won the Nobel Prize, he celebrated together with his friends. He joked that it was probably the most efficient toast to winning the Nobel Prize in history.

Calm group

The winner of the 2012 Prize for Literature, Mr. Mo Yan, was very calm when he was notified that he had won the prize. He was having dinner when he got the phone call. He said he was a little surprised, and glad. "There are many other brilliant Chinese writers; I will keep working on my literature."

Doris Lessing was the winner of the 2007 Prize for Literature. She is one of the most important contemporary English writers, and the oldest female Nobel Prize winner in history. She recalled that day she was outside doing grocery shopping when she came back and found a lot of journalists at her door. Only then did she learn that she won the Prize. She told journalists she did not care at all if she won the Nobel Prize; quietly writing was the thing she valued the most.

The winner of the 2008 Prize for Chemistry, Martin Chalfie, was in New York when he was called. "I did not get phone call. I thought it was another phone that was ringing, so I went back to sleep," said Chalfie. After he woke up, he realized that the announcement of the winners of the Nobel Prize was due that day. "I turned on the computer to see which 'idiot' had won the Prize, and it turned out I was that idiot." Chalfie said he was happy and relaxed when he learned he had won.

Turning down the Nobel Prize

Most winners would consider the Nobel Prize as the biggest honor in life. However, there are also people who do not care at all.

Elfriede Jelinek was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2004. To general astonishment, Jelinek made a statement two days later that she would not go to Stockholm to accept the Prize, firstly on account of her health, and secondly because she thought she was not qualified to win the Prize.

When Jean-Paul Sartre learned that he had been nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964, he wrote a letter to the Nobel Committee asking that his name be withdrawn. The Committee later awarded Sartre the prize anyway. Jean-Paul Sartre later said in a statement that he was sorry for any controversy that had resulted when he turned down the Prize. He said that as a writer, he had always rejected any official honors.

This article is translated and edited from 《得知自己获诺奖那一刻，他们都在干什么？》 , source: Bjnews.com, authors: Zhang Ting, Cai Minghui