It’s 2 a.m.; the phone rings. The caller ID says Stockholm, Sweden. The voice on the other end of the line says, “Congratulations! You’ve just been awarded a Nobel Prize!”

What goes through your mind in a moment like that?

Meet two people who received that life-altering call. Discover not only the incredible doors it opened for them, but the unexpected challenges that came with such a prestigious honor.

This episode originally aired on October 18, 2024.

Suggested episodes:

• Laugh and then think: What it's like to win the Ig Nobel Prize
• What it’s like winning a little or a lot on The Price Is Right, Wheel Of Fortune, and Jeopardy!

GUESTS: 

• Andrea Ghez: Along with Reinhard Genzel, she was awarded half of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics “for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the center of our galaxy”. She is a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and the Lauren B. Leichtman & Arthur E. Levine chair in Astrophysics, at the University of California, Los Angeles 
• Martin Chalfie: Along with Osamu Shimomura and Roger Tsien, he was awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery and development of green fluorescent protein (GFP). He is a University Professor and former chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at Columbia University. Prof. Chalfie is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a foreign member of the Royal Society

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