So, you really can win a Nobel Prize after coming last in class
Masatoshi Koshiba, one of the three winners of this year's Nobel Prize in Physics, has provided evidence of his earlier claim that he was the worst student in his university class by making public a copy of a transcript issued by Tokyo University in 1951, according to this Yomiuri Daily story:
"I graduated from Tokyo University's science department at the bottom of the class," the 76-year-old professor emeritus of the university said at a press conference at the university Tuesday evening, responding to the news he had won the prize.
He won the award for his pioneering contributions to astrophysics, especially his work detecting neutrinos, which are uncharged elementary particles that seldom interact with other particles.
...He asked the university's administration office for his transcript two years ago to prove he was telling the truth about his academic records.
"Few people around me believed anyone graduating last on the list could become a university professor," he said, adding that this view frustrated him.
...He referred to his poor grades in a congratulatory address he gave at a commencement ceremony in the spring to students graduating from the university's mathematics, science and engineering department.