Venkatraman Ramakrishnan
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan
Venkatraman “Venki” Ramakrishnan is an Indian American and British structural biologist of Indian origin. He is the current President of the Royal Society, having held the position since November 2015. In 2009 he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Thomas A. Steitz and Ada Yonath, "for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome". Since 1999, he has worked as a group leader at the Medical Research CouncilLaboratory of Molecular Biologyon the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, UK, where he...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScientist
CountryUnited States of America
I cannot imagine a more enjoyable place to work than in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology where I work.
Even the best scientists are often insecure and feel the need for recognition.
I am still the same person doing the same science. Why are people so impressed when some academy in Sweden gives an award?
There is no room for political, personal or religious ideologies in science.
We are all human beings, and our nationality is simply an accident of birth.
It's not about where you were born or where you come from that makes you a good scientist. What you need are good teachers, co-students, facilities.
If you go to a second-rate place, and you are first-rate, it is very difficult to do first-rate work because you do not get that critical feedback you need for first-rate work on a daily basis.
If I were to take an undergraduate chemistry exam, I would probably fail.
I began studying ribosomes as a postdoctoral fellow in Peter Moore's laboratory in 1978.
I think it's important to give young people the freedom to follow their ideas and pursue their interests.
Unusually for an Indian man of his generation, my father, being aware of my mother's intellectual abilities, encouraged her to go abroad by herself to obtain a Ph.D.
Ultimately, biological phenomena involve molecules, and understanding them involves understanding the underlying chemistry. In my opinion, this is a particularly exciting area of chemistry.
The success in the determination of the high-resolution structures of ribosomal subunits and eventually the whole ribosome was the culmination of decades of effort.
The Royal Society view is completely apolitical: it will judge anything based on the evidence. One of the big strengths of the Society is that is it widely perceived as impartial and above the fray. We'd like to make sure it stays that way.