Canadian-born Nobel winner died last Friday: Rockefeller University

STOCKHOLM - The Canadian-born scientist who won this year's Nobel Prize in medicine is dead, Rockefeller University says.

The New York-based university said Monday that Ralph Steinman was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer four years ago and died last Friday, three days before the announcement.

Nobel Prizes are typically not given out posthumously. Nobel committee member Goran Hansson said the Nobel committee didn't know Steinman was dead when it chose him as a winner and was looking through its regulations.

Steinman, 68, was born in Quebec and was one of three scientists who won this year's Nobel Prize in medicine for discoveries about the immune system that opened new avenues for the treatment and prevention of infectious illnesses and cancer.

via ca.news.yahoo.com