Nobel 2014 12: We're Outta Here!

Day 5: Homeward Bound - Friday December 12, 2014

Following several days of outrageously unique experiences, our surprise vacation was coming to an end.  We had a 10:15AM flight to get to, so we got up early – but not so early that we couldn’t enjoy one final breakfast buffet and give hugs to Sharon and Weo before grabbing a taxi back to the airport.  In another episode of "Nobel Prize Winners Are Just Like You and Me!", we're actually taking home one more suitcase than we arrived with - Sharon and Weo have graciously given us their dirty laundry so they don't have to lug it around for their second week in Sweden.

As to the various winners, they were all staying in Sweden to continue fulfilling their various obligations.  The day we left the winners all received their prize money.  In the case of the Chemistry guys they split the monetary award three ways.  Later that day they had yet ANOTHER banquet to attend, and then they all were sent off on a week-long tour outside of Stockholm.  In Weo’s case, he ended up speaking to some high school students and at one particular university, while his co-winners had similar engagements at other schools.  Weo’s schedule during that week following the awards was something that was noted in one of the things we’d received at the Nobel Desk when we’d first checked into the hotel.  Extra points to anyone who got this far in my write and recalled me talking about that many, MANY pages ago.

The Aftermath

Here I thought I’d mention what life is like for a “typical” Nobel Prize winner after they win the prize. Something to keep in mind is that Weo had already been a VERY busy guy for the previous 20 years or so. As his reputation built over the years he was very widely sought after to present at reasonably high profile scientific conferences, and he’d amassed a large collection of awards over a couple of decades that took him around the world. He was skilled in juggling his commitments to Stanford with his travels. On average he probably traveled about once per month, with a healthy dose of international travel.

So what happened after he was named a winner? Madness! EVERYONE wants a piece of a Nobel Prize winner. Stanford knew this and granted him leave for the year following his award so he had the freedom to accept just a SMALL FRACTION of the invitations. For over a year following his win he was averaging three trips per MONTH. Even now, five years after his award, he is constantly turning down requests to travel. If he wanted to (and had no ethics, since he says that many of the requests sound pretty sketchy – some are almost literally along the lines of “hey, come out here to the grand opening of my luxury island so I can show you off to the investors”) he could still have a crazy travel schedule.

In addition, Nobel winners start receiving invitations to gather together for high-profile “think tank” sorts of things, leading to trips to places like Davos for the World Economic Forum. Once there I think they probably go to strip clubs – but no doubt all the strippers are just earning money to put themselves through their PhD programs.

For those of us who DIDN’T win the Nobel Prize but DID attend the events of Nobel Week life is also different. We experienced something that almost no one in the world gets to take part in and have memories that are priceless!

Thanks for reading – if you got to here I know you’ve invested a lot of time and I hope you found it worthwhile. Feel free to submit any comments – I’d love to know who found this online!

What happens next?  Uh, well – you reached the end.  Didn’t you notice?  Amuse yourself by reading something else here…or go do something else entirely.  I’m not the boss of you!

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