VENKATRAMAN RAMAKRISHNAN

Venkatraman "Venki" Ramakrishnan is an Indian-born American and British structural biologist, who shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Thomas A. Steitz and Ada E. Yonath, "for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome". He currently works at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England.

Praise for Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

In 2009, Ramakrishnan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Thomas A. Steitz and Ada Yonath. He won this for his part in unlocking the key to the ribosome. "I knew the ribosome was going to be the focus of Nobel prizes. It stands at the crossroads of biology, between the gene and what comes out of the gene. But I had convinced myself I was not going to be a winner." Ramakrishnan was knighted in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to Molecular Biology, but does not generally use the title. He was included as one of 25 Greatest Global Living Indians by NDTV Channel, India on 14 December 2013. In an interview in November 2013 Robin McKie asked Ramkrishnan "If I called you a geek, would you hold it against me?" To which Ramkrishnan answered "No. Geeks make huge advances in society. Newton was the ultimate geek. It should be a compliment". Thereby setting himself up as the ultimate geek hero!