Nobel winner 'not on speaking terms' with co-laureate
(AFP) – 8 hours ago
Los Angeles — Nobel chemistry prize winner Arieh Warshel said Wednesday he was "not on speaking terms" with one of his two co-laureates, Martin Karplus, but thinks the award will bring them together.
Speaking to AFP after a press conference in Los Angeles, the 72-year-old Israeli American said he had spoken briefly to his "friend" Michael Levitt, a US-British citizen, but not so far with Karplus.
"With the other, I'm not really on speaking terms... So we will see," Warshel said, adding that he had worked with both Levitt and Karplus, who has dual Austrian and US citizenship.
He declined to elaborate, but added: "Now we'll talk and I'll maybe make him buy me a dinner."
Warshel told reporters he was woken at 2:00 am (0900 GMT) by the Nobel call, and had since taken calls from both Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu asked for a brief summary of his work, but warned the Nobel laureate he may not understand it.
"So I gave him a one-minute lecture. He understood it, and he said that from now on, he will force his ministers to say whatever they want just in one minute," Warshel said as the room erupted with laughter.
One journalist asked Warshel what he was going to do with the "very large" prize money that accompanies the Nobel award.
"First of all, it's not large at all," Warshel said to laughter. "Second, I don't know if it's taxable," he added. When told it was taxable, he joked: "You could ask my wife."
The trio will share the prize sum of eight million Swedish kronor ($1.25 million), reduced because of the economic crisis last year from the 10 million kronor awarded since 2001.
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