Venkatraman Ramakrishnan: Work

“This reconnection…has given me great satisfaction. I realise I have inadvertently become a source of inspiration and hope for people in India simply by the fact that I grew up there, went to my local university, but could go on to do well internationally. The Nobel, he says, is not just an affirmation of his past work; it’s an encouragement to keep working on interesting problems.”

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

People , Hope , Problem , Universe

“Now many excellent scientists in India are doing really first rate work and it should not matter when the next Indian Nobel Prize is because they are doing very good work — that is what matters and the more you have this infrastructure, with good scientists within India, eventually someone will get a Nobel Prize for work done within India.”

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

Venki’ makes light of India link- Winner says not to treat science like cricket; league of misses grows

“The ribosome does amazing chemistry, but I’m not a chemist…I’ve just learnt enough to work on my problem.”

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

Appreciate science for what it is: Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

Problem

“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

“There are already people who are world class in India, for example C. N. R. Rao (who has worked mainly in solid-state and structural chemistry). He is an example of how you can do first rate international work within India. So I would say to Indians — you have it within you to do this”

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

in India
Venki’ makes light of India link- Winner says not to treat science like cricket; league of misses grows

People , World

“Find out what really fascinates you and follow that. Almost anything in nature, if you follow it, you will find a scientific problem. That is a better way to do it than following fads, because what is fashionable today may have been solved or fallen out of fashion once you have become a working scientist.”

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

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

Way , Fashion , Nature , Problem

“Scientists work by a combination of intuition and insight in trying to understand a question.”

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

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

Understanding , Question

“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