– Are you saying I have to stop the experiment? Not all Nobel Prize winners react as you might expect

When the call comes, they may still be in bed. Some are sitting at their desks at work, while others are in the air on a transatlantic flight. However, all Nobel Prize winners receive a phone call informing them of important news.

A moment after hanging up, the phone rings again.

The man on the other end of the line is Adam Smith.

Since 2006, he has been one of the first voices that the new Nobel Prize winner will hear. As scientific director of the Nobel Prize Outreach, Smith spoke to almost every new prize winner as reality dawned. His task is to conduct the first interview with new Nobel Prize winners to capture their emotions, reflections and shock after receiving the award.

It is a moment filled with shock, elation or, very rarely, dissatisfaction at being dragged away from the experiment.

The person who usually calls the winners to give the first news, the committee secretary or the head of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, changes every few years or so. However, Smith has held the position for 18 years – which puts him in a rather unique position.

“I’ve talked to more (Nobel laureates) than anyone else has ever done,” Smith says, looking thoughtful as he ponders the issue. “I don’t know what that has to do with anything. I should stop and think about it sometimes.”

Smith hopes these calls will be the beginning of a working relationship with the laureates, who will often travel to events around the world as part of the Nobel Prize Outreach program to talk to young scientists, engineers and students. The conversations recorded for the Nobel Prize Conversations podcast are part of the archive of interviews with laureates that he and his team have built over the years.