Venkatraman Ramakrishnan quotes

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan is an American structural biologist renowned for his groundbreaking research on the ribosome. His work has greatly advanced the understanding of how genetic information is translated into proteins. He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contributions to science. Here are 30 of his quotes:

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

Indeed, many of the founding members of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology were immigrants themselves, and they helped to revolutionise modern biology.

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

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

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

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

It's an absolutely good thing. I can think of one even better thing for young people, especially in India. It shows them you can study in India, get your basic education in India and you can (then) do whatever you want after that. That's a very important message.

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

Dr. Ramakrishnan addressing an audience of 3,000 at the university's Centenary Auditorium.

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

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

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

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

No. Geeks make huge advances in society. Newton was the ultimate geek. It should be a compliment.

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

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

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

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

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

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

Scientists are trained to be rational and we are not trained to interact with people and develop social skills. Politics is about being able to convince people. Scientists could do with learning how to do that.

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

Many in my family were ambivalent about it, but my mother encouraged me to put aside my fears. Vera (my wife) and I finally decided to leave Utah, where we were very happy, take a 40 per cent salary cut and move to the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Cambridge.

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

In the current debate about immigration, it is worth noting that this award is yet another example of the numerous contributions that immigrants make to British society.

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

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

I then got a PhD in physics [from Ohio University] though it was hatt hatt and hatt not a very good one.

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

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, [he said]. I honestly don't think my roots have much to do with it. I'm sure this won't make me popular, but this is what I think.

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

I was quite insistent. We have quite a few pranksters in the lab and I thought this was one of them. I even congratulated the man, ironically, on his Swedish accent.

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan