良緣： Eva Meyersson Milgrom and Paul Milgrom (米爾格羅姆，獲頒諾貝爾經濟學獎2020)

 

在斯德哥爾摩舉行的諾貝爾獎晚宴上，我被安排坐在我未來的妻子伊娃·梅耶松旁邊。她從一開始就以她的機智、笑聲以及對我笨拙舞姿的包容深深吸引了我。但問題是：她住在斯德哥爾摩，而我住在加州。

愛情如何才能跨越如此遙遠的距離？身在加州的家中，我思念著伊娃，思考著下一步該怎麼做。我想，任何一個斯德哥爾摩的女人都會對和一個加州男人開始一段戀情持懷疑態度，而且很可能也會受到閨蜜們的勸阻，但一個足夠盛大的舉動很難被拒絕。於是，我寫信給伊娃說：「既然你住在斯德哥爾摩，我住在帕洛阿爾托，我會給你寄一張機票，我們去世界任何地方見面。」這個提議讓一些知己啞口無言，但當伊娃和她的祖母談起此事時，她得到了一些明智的建議。 「回斯德哥爾摩吧，」伊娃回答。於是，我回去了。

2000年9月17日，伊娃48歲生日那天，我和伊娃結婚了。婚後，我們經常一起旅行、享受生活，也常去瑞典。 2006年，為了慶祝我們相識十週年，諾貝爾基金會邀請我們再次參加諾貝爾獎頒獎典禮，並為我們安排了一場記者會。在會上，我發表了我人生中最精彩的一句話。在電視直播中，伊娃的家人和朋友們都在觀看，有人問我，當年我沒有獲獎，對此有何感想。我回答說：“哦，但我可是捧回了最大的獎杯！”

——經濟學家保羅·米爾格羅姆講述27年前在諾貝爾獎頒獎晚宴上與妻子伊娃相遇的故事。

照片：伊娃·梅耶森·米爾格羅姆和保羅·米爾格羅姆在美國加利福尼亞州帕洛阿爾托，米爾格羅姆獲頒諾貝爾經濟學獎當天合影。圖片來源：© 諾貝爾獎推廣部。攝影：埃琳娜·茹科娃。

#諾貝爾獎

"At the Nobel Prize dinner in Stockholm, I was seated next to my future wife, Eva Meyersson, who charmed me from the start with her wit and laugh and tolerance for my awkward dancing. But there was a problem: she lived in Stockholm while I lived in California.

How does love overcome such a great distance? Home in California, thinking about Eva, I considered my next move. Any woman in Stockholm, I imagined, would be sceptical about starting a relationship with a California man and would likely be discouraged by her confidants, too, but a sufficiently grand gesture would be hard to dismiss. So, I wrote to Eva, 'since you live in Stockholm and I live in Palo Alto, I’ll send you an airline ticket and meet you anywhere in the world.' That offer left some confidants speechless, but when Eva spoke to her grandmother, she got some sage advice. 'Come back to Stockholm,' was Eva’s reply. So, I did.

Eva and I were married on September 17, 2000, on Eva’s 48th birthday. Eva and I travelled and had fun and visited Sweden often. In 2006, to celebrate our tenth meeting anniversary, the Nobel Foundation invited us back to Nobel celebrations and arranged a press conference for us, where I was to deliver the best single line of my life. On live TV, with Eva’s family and friends watching, I was asked how I felt that I had not won the Prize that year. I answered: 'Oh, but I’m the one who went home with the biggest prize!'"

- economist Paul Milgrom on how he met his wife Eva at the Nobel Prize banquet 27 years ago.

Photo: Eva Meyersson Milgrom and Paul Milgrom on the day Milgrom was presented with his prize in economic sciences in Palo Alto, California, US. Credit: © Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Elena Zhukova.

#NobelPrize