STOCKHOLM — Three scientists won the Nobel Medicine Prize for work on the immune system, but in a surprising twist the jury learned that one of the winners of the award had died just days before.
The three were lauded for their work on the body's complex defence system in which signalling molecules unleash antibodies and killer cells to respond to invading microbes.
The Nobel jury was caught off guard though when it discovered hours after announcing the prize that Steinman had died of pancreatic cancer on Friday the age of 68.However the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute that awards the prize held a meeting late Monday to discuss how to handle the situation, deciding ultimately that Steinman would remain a Nobel laureate given the "unique" situation
Beutler, 53, and Hoffmann, 70, who just a few days ago received a joint Shaw prize in Hong Kong, were meanwhile set to share one half of the 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.48 million, 1.08 million euros) Nobel prize.