Daijiworld Media Network - Montana
Montana, Oct 8: In a story that sounds straight out of a novel, Fred Ramsdell, 64, an eminent immunologist, discovered he had won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine while on a digital detox in the remote Rockies. Ramsdell and his wife, Laura O’Neill, were camping and hiking across the western United States with their phones on airplane mode, leaving the Nobel Committee unable to reach him.
The news finally broke on Monday afternoon, Montana time, when O’Neill regained cell service at a campground and was met with a flood of congratulatory messages. “I thought she had seen a grizzly bear,” Ramsdell joked, recalling the moment his wife began shouting. Instead, she had discovered dozens of texts, all announcing, “You just won the Nobel Prize!”
Ramsdell admitted, “I certainly didn't expect to win the Nobel Prize. It never crossed my mind,” speaking from a hotel in Montana. The couple had missed a 2:00 am local call from the Nobel committee and early congratulations from friends and family. According to his lab, Sonoma Biotherapeutics, Ramsdell “was living his best life and was off the grid on a preplanned hiking trip.”
After checking into a hotel in Livingston, Montana, Ramsdell finally contacted Thomas Perlmann, secretary-general of the Nobel Assembly, nearly 20 hours after the initial call. Perlmann described it as the most challenging time he had contacting a laureate since 2016.
Ramsdell shares the 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine with Mary Brunkow of the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle and Shimon Sakaguchi of Osaka University, Japan. The trio was recognized for their pioneering research on T-cells, the white blood cells that act as the body’s “security guards,” identifying and destroying infected or cancerous cells. They will share a prize of 11 million Swedish kronor (around £871,400).
Speaking about the award, Ramsdell said, “I was just grateful and humbled by getting the award, super happy for the recognition of the work in general and just looking forward to sharing this with my colleagues.”
On Tuesday, Ramsdell planned to complete the six-hour drive to his fall and winter residence near Whitefish, Montana, marking the start of a quieter celebration after the whirlwind of unexpected news.
This remarkable story not only highlights the laureate’s groundbreaking contribution to immunology but also the serendipitous moment of discovering life-changing recognition while immersed in nature.