WATCH: Svante Paabo’s colleagues celebrate his Nobel prize with a splash
Swedish Scientist Svante Paabo, who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his discoveries around the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution was thrown into a pond by his colleagues as an act of celebration.
The celebrations happened at Germany’s Max Planck Institute where Paabo’s colleagues came to congratulate him on the Nobel award.
“We are totally ecstatic and delighted,” the institute said on Twitter. He was seen bowing in the video.
What better way to celebrate your #NobelPrize than being grabbed by your colleagues & thrown into your Institute's pond?😂At #MedicineNobelPrize Winner Svante Pääbo's @MPI_EVA_Leipzig, scientific success is traditionally celebrated w/ a quick *voluntary* bath!😉🌊@maxplanckpress pic.twitter.com/IMnMgPsexx
— Max Planck Society (@maxplanckpress) October 4, 2022
The greetings would be however incomplete without an age-old tradition of tossing him into the pond for his scientific success.
The official account of The Nobel Prize shared the video, saying “Our new medicine laureate Svante Paabo made a splash when his colleagues threw him into a pond.”
Our new medicine laureate Svante Pääbo made a splash when his colleagues at @MPI_EVA_Leipzig threw him into a pond. Normally throwing a colleague into the pond happens when somebody receives a PhD, and they wanted to do it for Pääbo's #NobelPrize as well.
Video: Benjamin Vernot pic.twitter.com/SaHAxfwRID
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 8, 2022
The organisation mentioned that the tradition was normally for when an individual received their PhD.