What It’s Like to Carry Your Nobel Prize through Airport Security | Observations, Scientific American Blog Network

Among the many changes the Nobel Prize brought to Schmidt’s life: travel hassles. Here’s what he said it’s like to carry a Nobel medal aboard an airplane:

“There are a couple of bizarre things that happen. One of the things you get when you win a Nobel Prize is, well, a Nobel Prize. It’s about that big, that thick [he mimes a disk roughly the size of an Olympic medal], weighs a half a pound, and it’s made of gold.

“When I won this, my grandma, who lives in Fargo, North Dakota, wanted to see it. I was coming around so I decided I’d bring my Nobel Prize. You would think that carrying around a Nobel Prize would be uneventful, and it was uneventful, until I tried to leave Fargo with it, and went through the X-ray machine. I could see they were puzzled. It was in my laptop bag. It’s made of gold, so it absorbs all the X-rays—it’s completely black. And they had never seen anything completely black.

“They’re like, ‘Sir, there’s something in your bag.’

I said, ‘Yes, I think it’s this box.’

They said, ‘What’s in the box?’

I said, ‘a large gold medal,’ as one does.

So they opened it up and they said, ‘What’s it made out of?’

I said, ‘gold.’

And they’re like, ‘Uhhhh. Who gave this to you?’

‘The King of Sweden.’

‘Why did he give this to you?’

‘Because I helped discover the expansion rate of the universe was accelerating.’

At which point, they were beginning to lose their sense of humor. I explained to them it was a Nobel Prize, and their main question was, ‘Why were you in Fargo?’”

Until I got to the end of the first sentence, I thought you were talking about home! At least it isn't.

Pledge drive started on my week off, whyyyyyyy. I guess I should fire up the vacuum.

Until I got to the end of the first sentence, I thought you were talking about home! At least it isn't.

Truth!

At which point, they were beginning to lose their sense of humor. I explained to them it was a Nobel Prize, and their main question was, ‘Why were you in Fargo?’”

Heh.

She had a dream about the King of Sweden/ He gave her things that she was needin'...

Things to get out of your carry on as you approach the X-ray machine: laptops, liquids, Nobel prizes.

And in his ears
The heartfelt thanks of a grateful nation
Admiring handshake from the king of Sweden
A brighter future for all God's children

Tribe - Supercollider

Too bad they never built the Supercollider.

Nothing like a wetvac in the office to make working easier...

So if the actual Nobel Prize is made of gold, would it be in the category of valuable things that are actually less likely to be stolen, because how would you actually convert it to cash without getting caught?

It's pretty darn easy to melt gold down.

You could always melt it down. What's the street value of a Nobel prize vs the gold?

Oh yeah! OK, back to plotting how to steal a Nobel prize. Step one: Make connection with someone with a big oven. (Take that glassblowing class??)

Blowtorch FTW.

According to Wikipedia, the prize weighs about 175 grams, which by my calculations, is worth $7600 at current rates.