When Jewish Stanford economist Paul Milgrom was awarded the Nobel Prize on Monday, organisers initially struggled to reach him. 

It wasn’t until his neighbour and co-laureate Robert Wilson knocked on his door at around 2am and broke the news to him that he found out he had won the prestigious accolade. 

Footage of the moment, captured on Mr Milgrom’s security camera, was shared on social media by Stanford University. 

Mr Milgrom’s wife, who was then in Stockholm, received an alert on her phone and watched the exchange in real time, the Californian university said.

The #NobelPrize committee couldn't reach Paul Milgrom to share the news that he won, so his fellow winner and neighbor Robert Wilson knocked on his door in the middle of the night. pic.twitter.com/MvhxZcgutZ

— Stanford University (@Stanford) October 12, 2020

“Paul? It’s Bob Wilson,” he said, knocking on his door several times. 

“You’ve won the Nobel Prize so they’re trying to reach you, but they cannot. They don’t seem to have a number for you.”

“Wow,” he can be heard responding. 

The two laureates received the Nobel Prize in economic science for their work on auction theory and will share a cash prize of 10 million Swedish kronor (around £875,700).

They were recognised for “improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats.”

“Their discoveries have benefitted sellers, buyers, and taxpayers around the world,” the prize committee said.

Mr Milgrom, 72, was raised in a Jewish family in Detroit, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.