TORONTO -- If you鈥檝e found yourself craving a stiff drink on a Monday morning during the coronavirus pandemic, you鈥檙e in good company.
Nobel prize-winning immunologist Peter Doherty provided some much-needed respite from the effects of ongoing isolation Monday after inadvertently asking his 26,000 followers for the opening hours of Dan Murphy鈥檚, a liquor retailer in Australia.
Confusing Twitter for Google, Doherty tweeted a simple message: 鈥淒an Murphy opening hours,"
But Doherty, the namesake of the Doherty Institute, which has been at the forefront of Australia鈥檚 response to the pandemic, didn鈥檛 shy away from the mistake. In fact, he appeared quite pleased to find the information he was looking for.
鈥淢any thanks, just what I was trying to find out,鈥� he said to a user who responded to the erroneous tweet with an image of the liquor retailer鈥檚 opening hours.
鈥淲hy bother with Google, where I was meaning to be, when there's so much help available via Twitter?鈥�
Doherty even took time to joke around with users who poked fun at his error.
鈥淚f this is something to do with a clinical trial sign me up,鈥� responded one user.
鈥淲hole lot [safer] than bleach,鈥� Doherty responded, poking fun at U.S. President Donald Trump鈥檚 suggestion of possibility injecting disinfectants to protect people from the novel coronavirus.
The Nobel laureate has been actively engaged in discussing developments related to the COVID-19 pandemic, recently penning an article highlighting the importance of vaccine research during
The piece, Doherty admits, only resulted in 28 Twitter interactions. His booze-related tweet, on the other hand, earned him 1,100 new followers.
鈥淣ot sure what this means but, since inadvertently tweeting about Dan Murphy at lunchtime, I seemed to have picked up 1100 followers,鈥� he wrote later Monday.
鈥淭he tweet I'd put up re the new piece I'd written on immunization for our website engendered 28 new tweets. Obviously, I've been on the wrong track for decades.鈥濃��
