Several things that came out of it were spectacular. I mean, obviously the most marvellous thing is the Nobel events themselves. I mean, from the moment you arrive at SAS Airlines you're treated like royalty. They come out and they meet you, they take your luggage, and you don't have to worry about checking in or anything like that. You have a first class seat. And when you arrive they assign a chauffeur and a limousine to you, same person takes care of you for two weeks, and you have a sort of administrative assistant that says, you know, now you're going to meet this, and now you're going to meet that. And you know, it's just a wonderful series of events in which you have a meeting… a wonderful party at the American embassy, wonderful party at the Swedish Embassy, or at least the Swedish formal office of some sort.
On the Sabbath we went to the synagogue and they gave us a wonderful replica of the synagogue. We went to the Jewish museum, and they had - which I didn't realize at the time - a wonderful memorial of the saving of the Danish Jews. Denmark had 7000 Jews; practically not a single one was killed. When they found out that the Germans wanted to round up the Jews, they contacted people in Stockholm, and then shipped almost all of them to Stockholm where they were safe for the remainder of the war years. But 400 of them they were not able to round up, and the Nazis later rounded them up and sent them to Theresienstadt. But the Danish government was so nervous about that, they sent extra monies and supplies to make sure they would be protected and not sent off to Auschwitz or something else, and as a result, most of them were also able to return. So Denmark really saved almost all of its Jews.
And then there was the Nobel Prize lecture which was extremely enjoyable for me because I think if I remember correctly I was the last one to speak. I think Paul spoke first, or maybe Arvid spoke first, and then Paul, and then myself. And I enjoyed giving the lecture once I got over my initial nervousness. And what made the lecture particularly pleasant for me was that Jack Byrne has sent me a wonderful photograph of Aplysia with a Nobel Prize medal around its neck. This is the animal that deserves the Nobel Prize. And when I introduced Aplysia saying what a beautiful animal it was, clearly highly intelligent and very accomplished I said, and I showed this image, and laughter and applause broke out. And I said, from now on it's downhill. I didn't have to worry anymore. And I had a very pleasant talk, and after that there was a reception, and all my kids were there. Well first of all, before the reception… there was a reception, and my kids and my grandchildren were there. And my granddaughter [Libby], who's now a freshman at Columbia, was standing in the receiving line shaking hands. She very much insisted she wanted to be there shaking hands. And after about 45 minutes she said, 'My God, that's an exhausting job, standing in receiving lines!' And then there was the prize ceremony, which was really quite magical. And it was particularly important because Denise is very demanding of me, standards. And there was a major rehearsal beforehand, which you walk through all the steps. And the critical step is that when your turn comes, you walk up, the king gives you the medal and a certificate, and you bow to the king, you bow to the Nobel Assembly that gave you the prize, and then you turn and you bow to the audience. And Denise was there for the rehearsal, and she said you just don't bow properly. Look at the Asian recipients. Watch them, they bow from the waist, not from the head. And so when I received it and I turned to the king and I bowed and I turned to the Nobel Assembly and I bowed, when I turned to the audience I obviously focused on Denise who was pushing Paul in the arm, pleased with how I bowed.
