The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced Paul Milgrom and Bob Wilson as the winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics, but neither of them accepted the award as befits such ceremonies, instead both were fast asleep in their homes in Stanford, California.
After several consecutive phone calls, the Nobel committee managed to contact Bob Wilson. He is next door to Paul, the latter his former student, so he went in pajamas to Paul's door to give him the news that he has won the award and must open the phone.
“Paul, I'm Bob Wilson. "You won the Nobel Prize," he said at the intercom. "Really? Wow. "Okay," Paul replies. "Will you answer the phone?" adds laughing Mary, Bob's wife.
Later, Paul told Reuters:
"I was asleep and the doorbell rang at two in the morning. "Then I saw Bob's face knocking on the door telling me they were trying to call me and that I had won a Nobel Prize which was great news."
Stafford University academics won the Nobel Prize for their work on auction theory and improving their formats. Paul has been a student of Bob Wilson and have been working together since the 1970s.
Sources: Stanford University, NobelPrize.org
