NOBEL SURPRISE

‘Off the Grid’ Nobel Prize Winner Thought Wife’s Screams of Joy Were a Bear Attack

Dr. Fred Ramsdell was on a digital detox in the Montana Rockies.

The winner of the Nobel Prize for medicine was “living his best life” on an “off the grid” hiking trip, and missed calls announcing his big win. Illinois-born Dr.Fred Ramsdell was on a digital detox in the Montana Rocky Mountains when his wife, Laura O’Neill, suddenly started shrieking. Initially thinking a bear had attacked her, he rushed to her side, only for her to reveal she had just regained cellular service and had been bombarded with hundreds of messages informing her of her husband’s win. “You just won the Nobel Prize!” she told the disbelieving scientist, who later told The New York Times that the prospect of winning the prestigious prize “never crossed my mind.” The couple had also missed a 2 a.m. call from the Nobel Committee in Stockholm informing Ramsdell of the award. A friend and lab colleague told them he was “living his best life and was off the grid on a preplanned hiking trip.” Ramsdell was one of three recipients of this year’s award for medicine, along with Mary E Brunkow and Shimon Sakaguchi, who were recognized for their research on the human immune system.