In a remarkable twist of fate, Dr. Fred Ramsdell, a prominent US immunologist, discovered he had won the Nobel Prize in Medicine while on a remote hiking trip in Montana’s grizzly bear territory. The news reached him not through a direct call from the Nobel Committee but via a flood of text messages to his wife, Laura O’Neill, who was accompanying him on the adventure. Dr. Ramsdell, who had his phone on airplane mode, initially dismissed the announcement, only to be convinced by the overwhelming evidence of over 200 congratulatory messages. The award recognizes his groundbreaking research, conducted alongside two other scientists, into how the immune system combats infections. The trio will share a prize fund of 11 million Swedish kronor (£870,000). After receiving the messages, the couple drove to a nearby town to secure a phone signal, allowing Dr. Ramsdell to finally connect with the Nobel Committee nearly 20 hours after their initial attempts. Dr. Thomas Perlmann, Secretary-General of the Nobel Assembly, described this as the most challenging winner contact since 2016. Dr. Ramsdell’s lab, Sonoma Biotherapeutics, humorously noted that he was “living his best life” off-grid during the ordeal. This incident adds to the Nobel Prize’s history of quirky winner announcements, including economist Paul Milgrom’s missed call in 2020 and novelist Doris Lessing’s blunt reaction in 2007.