Sir Peter Ratcliffe took a break from writing a grant proposal to take the call from Stockholm. He stresses how hard it is to know what information will be useful and the dangers of trying to direct research towards particular, predetermined goals.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2019 was awarded jointly to William G. Kaelin Jr, Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza "for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability."

Adam Smith reached the Laureate by telephone on October 7, 2019.