The Nobel Committee contacted one of the 2025 Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine, Fred Ramsdell, who was on a hiking trip. He learned about the award from his wife when she re-established mobile communication at the campsite.
The Nobel Committee managed to contact one of the laureates of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their groundbreaking discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance, which prevents the immune system from harming the body, Fred Ramsdell from San Francisco, who is on a hiking trip with his wife. This was reported by The New York Times, according to UNN.
Details
According to the publication, Fred Ramsdell stopped at a campsite in Montana on Monday afternoon after hiking and climbing in the Rocky Mountains, when his wife, Laura O'Neill, suddenly started screaming.
At first, he thought she might have seen a bear. Instead, she reconnected to mobile service and saw a multitude of text messages with the same news.
"You just won the Nobel Prize," she shouted.
In an interview with the publication, he stated that he replied: "No, I didn't." But his wife said: "I received 200 text messages saying you won."
The publication adds that the couple missed a 2 AM call from the Nobel Committee, which announced that Dr. Ramsdell and two other scientists had received the 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their research on the immune system.
They also missed congratulations from their friends and relatives.
It is noted that 64-year-old Dr. Ramsdell did not expect any important calls that morning and was off the grid, as usual during his vacation. His wife, on the contrary, preferred to communicate more with her friends and relatives.
"I certainly didn't expect to win the Nobel Prize. It didn't even cross my mind. I was just grateful and touched to receive the award, extremely happy for the recognition of my work in general, and looked forward to sharing it with colleagues," he said at the hotel.
Recall
The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi "for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance."
