Swedish geneticist Svante Pääbo received this year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine for “his discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution.” He dodged all the technical challenges to obtain genome sequencing of our closest extinct relative, the Neanderthal, and another extinct hominin, the Denisova. He further established that Homo Sapiens mixed with Neanderthals and Denisovans when they co-existed, and this has resulted in the introgression of archaic DNA in modern-day humans. As Pääbo won the Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking discoveries, congratulatory messages poured in from around the world. Amid this, a video recorded by Benjamin Vernot has surfaced online. It shows the Nobel laureate’s colleagues celebrating his prestigious win by throwing him into a pond amid cheers and applause. One of them even throws a safety ring for him.
Nobel Prize organization shared the video on their official Instagram handle and wrote, “Our new medicine laureate Svante Pääbo made a splash when his colleagues at Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany, threw him into a pond.” They further highlighted that one is normally given a success bath when one receives a PhD. “Normally the tradition of throwing a colleague into the pond is carried out when somebody receives a PhD, but the team decided to do it to celebrate Pääbo’s #NobelPrize as well,” they added.
Watch the celebratory video posted by the Nobel Prize organization on Instagram below:
The video was shared a few hours ago on Instagram and has since received 2.1 lakh views and 31,800 likes. The video has also received numerous comments.
“Great way to appreciate,” wrote an Instagram user with a laughing emoticon. “One of the most fun things about winning a Nobel Prize is being thrown into a pool,” commented another. “Keep the spirit up guys, and congratulations,” posted a third. “Wow! What an amazing way to celebrate,” expressed a fourth.
