Truemors
is reporting from
Member
NP Rank:
NP Rank:
Indian scientist, V.Ramkrishnan win Nobel chemistry prize
Share:
by Amitjha | October 7, 2009 at 04:17 am
7453 views | 42 Recommendations | 5 comments
Photos
Indian Scientists are not amongst the favorites in Nobel prize, but this year announcement ended several years of drought, in science category. An India born scientist from south India, Vekataraman Ramkrishnan won the Nobel prize for chemistry in the field of Ribosome study.
"This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry awards Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A Steitz and Ada E Yonath for having showed what the ribosome looks like and how it functions at the atomic level," the Nobel committee said in its citation.
All three have used a method called X-ray crystallography to map the position for each and every one of the hundreds of thousands of atoms that make up the ribosome, it said.
"This year's three Laureates have all generated 3D models that show how different antibiotics bind to the ribosome. These models are now used by scientists in order to develop new antibiotics, directly assisting the saving of lives and decreasing humanity's suffering," the citation said.
Better known as Venky among friends, Ramakrishnan started out as a theoretical physicist. After graduate school, he designed his own 2-year transition from physics to biology.
As a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University, he worked on a neutron-scattering map of the small ribosomal subunit of E Coli. He has been studying ribosome structure ever since.
Ramakrishnan has authored several important papers in academic journals.
Advertisement
What is NowPublic?
NowPublic lets people work together to cover news events around the world.
Crowd Power
Amitjha
new delhi, India
Related Stories
Recommendations (42)
Hugh Askew
Omaha, Nebraska, United States
Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke
Redwater, Alberta, Canada
Anonymous users (4)
israeli.agent
India
Amy Judd
Vancouver, Canada
cassy82
Miami, Florida, United States
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (5)
- Sign In or Join to post comments
Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpokeat 04:58 on October 7th, 2009
Amitjha thank you for this. I published a story on this as well. I will edit it to include the fact that V.Ramkrishnan is a scientist of Indian heritage.
http://my.nowpublic.com/world/trio-awarded-chemistry-nobel-prize-solving-ribosome-riddle
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan was born in Chidambaram, India in 1952 . He obtained a BSc at Baruda University in 1971 and PhD at Ohio University in 1976. He is a U.S. Citizen.
at 04:34 on October 7th, 2009
Well, I guess "Indian-origin scientist" or "Indian born scientist" would be a more appropriate title. As per nobelprize.org he is from United Kingdom.
At the present situation, it is very difficult for some one from India to do research and win a Nobel prize.
.Agent.
at 04:55 on October 7th, 2009
His name says all about his root, well where ever born or brought up, i am not talking about pride of the nation, it is the mankind that is going to get benefited by the research.
at 18:42 on October 7th, 2009
Amit,
I agree with the sincere sentiment behind this story. But I could not keep myself away from producing a little rant about the background and media hype.
Here it goes...
<RANT>
I think the hype about "Indian Scientist wins Nobel" is unwarranted. There is very less research is happening in the country and so is the interest among students to get into that path. Not much glamour attached to scientific research, you know. In a country an average parent always wants their kids to become either an engineer or doctor , no wonder so less innovations and inventions happens here. The gifted people run away from the country so that they could pursue their dream. Otherwise they end up being in copy/paste jobs - just enough to sustain their social life (you know - car, bungalow and money) and do the drill.
I am sure if Mr. Venkataraman had stayed in India, most probably he would have ended up in a job that needs to do the same thing over and over for days and years.
The main drawback of Indian society was the education system implemented by the British to churn out masses of clerks. Even 60 years after the independence, the various (socialist minded) Governments more or less followed the same system. Private education institutions ( a majority of them ) just run for profit and they refuse to pay decent salaries to the Teachers.
Thank heavens that with the open market pursued by the recent governments and with the emergence of Internet and other communication media, people atleast get an idea that there are other opportunities to realize and live their dream. It will take some time for India to see the effects of changes. The present generation is the forerunners of an information revolution. It is essential there has to have some frontline martyrs in any revolution. Let the Indians hope that the coming generations would contribute more to the future of the mankind.
Beinf all said,it is not that my intention to devalue the accomplishment made by Mr. Venkataraman. Congratulations to him and his team and other Nobel prize winners for their valuable contributions to the human kind.
</RANT>
.Agent.
at 21:36 on October 7th, 2009
You are absolutely right, Prakash,
There is no doubt our society does not promote the innovative thinking. But these rare example do help in guiding the new generation. Mr Venkataraman, himself said that these awards are nothing but a booster.It does not matter much.