Winning Reactions

1986, John C. Polanyi, Chemistry: Polanyi, 57, was fighting a fire at his neighbor’s house in Toronto when reporters reached him early Wednesday morning. “I’m amazed,” he told United Press International. “It so happens I’m having a fire . . . next door. May I phone you back?”

2001, R. Timothy Hunt, Medicine: “I am over the moon to win this award,” said Hunt in London.

1994, Alfred G. Gilman, Medicine: “I was obviously extremely excited. I think I secreted all the adrenaline I had.” The University of Texas professor poured a Coke but wound up spilling it all over the telephone when the first reporter called. “It was a dream come true. How often do you think you’ll be lucky enough for your ultimate dream to come true?”

2000, Gao Xingian, Literature: Gao told Reuters Television in Paris. “They announced it to me very simply and told me I had to prepare a 45-minute speech. I said that’s very long.”

1985, Claude Simon, Literature: Simon had little to say, telling reporters: “I have discovered that everything means nothing and that ultimately there is nothing to say. I have no message.”

1989, Dalai Lama, Peace: In Newport Beach, where he had been attending a peace conference, the spiritual leader shrugged off the award. “I’m still just a Buddhist monk,” said the Dalai Lama, 54, grinning broadly.

1994, John C. Harsanyi, Economics: “I was woken up by the telephone at 4:45 in the morning--and I thought either a friend had a bad accident or they were calling to tell me about the Nobel Prize. Luckily it was the Nobel,” said Harsanyi, a UC Berkeley professor emeritus.

2001, Kofi Annan, Peace: “All of us who work for the United Nations should be proud today, but also humbled--humbled because even more will be expected of us in the future,” the Ghanaian said. Annan dedicated the prize to the almost 2,000 U.N. staff members who have lost their lives in the service of humanity.