Lifting his hands in the air, Anthony Leggett, professor in the Center for Advanced Studies at the University, cried out in exasperation.

His phone has not stopped ringing since he became a Nobel Laureate in physics last Tuesday.

"He said to me this morning he was exhausted," said Parag Ghosh, post-doctoral researcher working with Leggett.

"He hasn't done anything for the last week except for being interviewed," said Gordon Baym, professor in the Center for Advanced Studies.

Before winning the Nobel Prize, Leggett said he liked staying at home to work on a book he is writing that includes the research for which he was nominated.

"I like looking at a problem, presenting it to students and helping them to understand it," Leggett said.

His hobbies include rock climbing, mountain hiking, reading, cooking and playing chess.

"He was very smart and athletic when I met him," said Baym, who met Leggett in 1964 when he came from London to do his post-doctorate studies at the University. Leggett spent one year at the University before returning to London. He returned to the University in 1983 to join the faculty in the department of physics. He said the British government was cutting research funding at the time and the University offered him a good deal.

As a child Leggett said he did not like physics. He recalled one time in high school when he attended his father's physics class.

It was not until he received his undergraduate degree in philosophy that physics began to interest him. He said he became intrigued with the things he didn't understand in physics. This longing to understand led to his success in 1972 as the first theoretician to explain the properties in the superfluid 3He, which he said is a tool that helps experimenters interpret their results.

Leggett was not the only one to celebrate winning a Nobel Prize last week.

Paul Lauterbur, professor in the Center for Advanced Studies, last Monday won the 2003 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology for putting Magnetic Resonance Imaging, or MRI, into practical application by bringing it into hospitals and medical clinics.

"I was hoping it could be developed into an easier way to see inside the body," he said.

Before MRI, x-rays were used to detect cancerous tumors and bone fractures in the body. Unlike x-rays, which emit small amounts of radiation that can be harmful to medical patients, MRI has been found to be a safer form to use in diagnosis.

Lauterbur worked on MRI for around 25 years. He said he was not surprised that he received the award.

Both Lauterbur and Leggett will accept their prizes in Stockholm, Sweden in December.