Venkatraman Ramakrishnan: Quotes about science

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan is Nobel prize winning American and British structural biologist. Explore interesting quotes on science.
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan: 58   quotes 1   like

“That is the wrong question to ask…You can’t go into science thinking of a Nobel Prize. You can only go into science because you’re interested in it.”

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

When asked how students could aim to emulate him.
Appreciate science for what it is: Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

Question , Thinking , Science

“People go into science out of curiosity, not to win awards. But scientists are human and have ambitions. Even the best scientists are often insecure and feel the need for recognition.”

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

People , Feeling , Science

“You would have to ask a physicist really but I think understanding fundamental problems in physics is very important because they are part of our culture. You just never know what is going to come from it. If you had told Isaac Newton about spaceships and satellites that arise from his laws of gravity, it would have been science fiction to him.”

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan interview: 'It takes courage to tackle very hard problems in science

Law , Understanding , Problem , Thinking

“Last year, the lecture was held in [an auditorium] with a capacity for just 300 people, and half the seats were empty. “What has changed? I am still the same person doing the same science. Why are people so impressed when some academy in Sweden gives an award?”

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

Appreciate science for what it is: Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

People , Science , Change , Personality

“I remember reading a Scientific American article about the use of new physical techniques – including neutron scattering – as a method for unravelling the structure of the ribosome. I was fascinated. I knew ribosomes were a big fundamental problem in science and this was a method for chipping away at it.”

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan interview: 'It takes courage to tackle very hard problems in science

Problem , Science , Reading

“A life of science struck me as being both interesting and international in character.”

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

Life , Science

“It takes a certain amount of courage to tackle very hard problems in science, I now realise. You don't know what the timescale of your work will be: decades or only a few years. Or your approach may be fatally flawed and doomed to fail. Or you could get scooped just as you are finalising your work. It is very stressful.”

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan interview: 'It takes courage to tackle very hard problems in science

Courage , Problem , Science

“My own lab has two Chinese, a Malaysian, a Canadian, an American, a German, it has had all sorts of people. And it’s actually fun because people from different countries come together, they have cultural exchanges, they learn more about each others’ countries and way of life. Science is a great international mixer, so the idea that it is a sort of cricket match where our team won — that simply is a wrong way of looking at scientific discovery.”

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

Commenting on the adulation he received in India as an Indian.
Venki’ makes light of India link- Winner says not to treat science like cricket; league of misses grows

Life , People , Way , Idea

“This is an honour that reflects the quality of science supported by the Medical Research Council, in particular at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. In my case, credit should go to the numerous dedicated postdocs, students, associates and colleagues who made crucial contributions to the work.”

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

Quoted in Knighthood for Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, 31 December 2011, 19 December 2013, NDTV http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/knighthood-for-venkatraman-ramakrishnan-162464,

Support , Science

“If I had complained about the prize before I got mine, they may have thought I was anticipating sour grapes. But I complained on the grounds that too many important scientists get missed out for Nobels. Science today is a highly collaborative exercise and to convert it into a contest, as the Nobel does, is a bad way to look at science. On the other hand, I am grateful to the committee for my award. It put the study of ribosome – the cellular machine that turns the blueprint of life into life itself – on front pages round the world.”

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan interview: 'It takes courage to tackle very hard problems in science

Life , World , Way , Exercises