When you get an urgent notification from your automated home security system in the middle of the night, you’d have very good reason to be panicked and scared. After all, something triggering the alarm at 2 AM, that must be someone who doesn’t have good intentions. Luckily, sometimes there are certain exceptions.
This couple headed towards their neighbor’s house and rang the bell in the middle of the night. The reason? To deliver a shocking message that would throw the neighbor’s life around.
The man, pictured above, simply couldn’t wait until morning to share the message, and it’s not exactly hard to understand why. The man who rang his neighbor’s door in the middle of the night, is Robert Wilson, Professor Emeritus in Economics at Standford University.
His neighbor has spent quite some time at the university as well. It’s Paul R. Milgrom, also an Economics Professor, who can be seen in the photo below.
This must be the smartest street in the neighborhood because these two men weren’t only co-workers and even partners, they were practically neighbors too.
Robert had a message for his friend Paul that simply couldn’t wait. It turns out that the two of them were co-winners of the 2020 Nobel Prize of Economics.
The two academics were honored with perhaps the most prestigious prize that there is in their field, the Nobel Prize for economics. Both of them worked on auction theory, which has proven to be very useful in making auctions more efficient, and it also gives us a better understanding of the economic elements involved.
According to the Nobel Committee and the Royal Swedish Academy of Science, who is responsible for selecting the winners of the prestigious prize, the discoveries made by these two “have benefited sellers, buyers, and taxpayers around the world”. More than enough reason to award them with the Nobel prize.
Aside from the honor and the publicity, receiving a noble prize also comes with some prize money. The pair received no less than 10 million Swedish kronor, which roughly equals to about 1,1 million dollars.
As Professor Robert Wilson, or “Bob” for short, rang his partner’s doorbell in the middle of the night, the security camera captured the incredible moment.
It wasn’t a burglar checking to see if there was anybody home, not at all! We’re pretty sure that he wouldn’t appreciate someone knocking on his door in the middle of the night, but this was a message that left him in absolute shock and awe.
“Paul,” the man said. “It’s Bob Wilson. You’ve won the Nobel Prize.”
Professor Milgrom can’t believe what he’s hearing and can only respond with a simple “wow.”
Apparently, both Stanford University and the Nobel Committee have been trying to reach the man, but he didn’t respond. He set his phone to ‘Do Not Disturb’ mode and didn’t get to see any calls or texts. Luckily, his neighbor was there to deliver the message in person.
Professor Milgrom’s wife wasn’t home when this all happened, but she got a notification on her phone and was able to follow along with a live stream of the front door camera.
His wife was actually in the Swedish capital for work reasons, but she was just as shocked as Paul was when all of this happened.
“She got to watch live as Wilson told Milgrom he’d won the Nobel Prize,” a spokesperson for Standford University said.
“All of us at Stanford are so proud of Professor Wilson and Professor Milgrom, and we are delighted that their accomplishments have been recognized by the Nobel Committee,” University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne said at a special press conference for the joyful news.
“Their accomplishments are a shining example of the ways in which fundamental discovery, and its applications to finding real-world solutions, can make enormous contributions to modern society,” he added.
The security cam footage even went viral on Twitter and was seen by millions! Don’t forget to check out the incredible moment in the video below.
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