Scientist Jules Hoffmann said on Tuesday he was sad to hear the news that his co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine, Ralph Steinman, had died only days before receiving the award.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) WINNER OF NOBEL PRIZE FOR MEDICINE, JULES HOFFMANN, SAYING:
"It was a sort of disaster for us. I knew that Ralph had been suffering for some time. But in the information that I had, it was that he was sort of overcoming it, that it was under control. Ralph was an extremely nice person and he was a very great scientist. We had wonderful contacts and it's really for us a sort of a shadow over the joy which we were about to share, and he will not be replaced. It's a very sad story."
Steinman, Hoffmann and a third scientist Bruce Beutler were awarded the prize for their work on the body's immune system on Monday.
But Steinman died on Friday, unbeknownst to the Nobel prize committee.
Despite rules stating that awards only recognize the living, the committee decided to honour Steinman for his work posthumously, making him the first person in half a century to win the award after passing away.
The 10 million dollar prize will be divided between the winners... half to Beutler and Hoffmann and the other half to Steinman, whose portion will go to his heirs.
Julie Noce, Reuters
