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October 26, 2009

Gerard Debreu, who won a Nobel Prize in economics in 1983, was the first professor at Cal to be awarded the prestigious "Nobel Laureate" parking space. The idea for the perq can be traced to Berkeley’s only Laureate in Literature, Czeslaw Milosz, who jokingly requested it after Chancellor Ira Heyman asked Milosz if the university could do something special to show its appreciation.

According to recent Nobel recipient George Smoot, the space is not automatically awarded – the permit must be applied for. Furthermore, the permit must be renewed annually, and if it lapses a temporary permit needs to be issued to maintain the parking spot.

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