“Science cannot be quantified by number of papers published.” Sharing his thoughts, Nobel laureate Venkatraman Ramakrishnan addressed the audience at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore on Tuesday 5 January 2010.

Photo: K Murali Kumar

Nobel laureate Venkatraman Ramakrishnan was evidently astounded by the rock-star welcome he received at the JN Tata Auditorium in the Indian Institute of Science here on Tuesday.

Facing a packed hall—not to mention overflowing crowds swarming around at least three projection screens outside—the celebrated structural biologist spoke eloquently, and from the heart, on subjects ranging from the complex ribosome structures that he helped demystify to his pragmatic approach to science.

While tracing his journey from a little-known girls’ school in Baroda to his small molecular biology laboratory in Cambridge, the UK, he said what transformed him were the eminent scientists he met. “And none of them were in the business of just generating information, or publishing papers. They were in the business of generating an understanding.”

Instead of wasting time duplicating material or doing “pedestrian work,” Dr Ramakrishnan saw that they tackled real problems. Science cannot be quantified by the number of papers published, and if that were the case you might as well feed data into the computer and leave the rest to it, he insisted.

This drive to solve “real” problems, and the fact that he did not find a problem that needed solving in physics, was what led him away from his graduate degree in physics to molecular biology.

Free-thinking teachers

The audience had a rare treat as he showed pictures of his school and college in Baroda, spoke of free-thinking teachers who tore up the syllabus and thus changed his approach to learning, and later, eminent researchers such as Peter Moore, who got him started on ribosomes.

On his ongoing research, Dr Ramakrishnan said he looked forward to understanding the more complex eukaryotic ribosome, and the entire ribosome pathway. Using simple graphics to explain what his lab had achieved, and won a Nobel in Chemistry for, he traced the trajectory that led to understanding ribosome structures—comprising two subunits made of complexes of RNA and protein. He then explained how this was critical to understanding the functioning and designing of better antibiotics. “Currently leading pharma companies are in phase-II—or beyond—of clinical trials to build new antibiotics, and reduce toxic effects,” he said. “However, we must think of it as something to use sparingly, and not randomly to treat minor ailments,” he added.

Later, during an interactive session, held on the precondition that only young students could participate, Dr Ramakrishnan was requested to spell out his message for young India. “I have nothing. People think you solve ribosome structures … and [think] you’re a prophet. I only know about ribosomes,” he said cheerfully. Again, declining to hold forth on value systems, he insisted that scientists are pragmatic people, not philosophers.

“I am often asked by young Indians: ‘How can I get a Nobel?’. Now that’s a sure way to fail. You go into science to solve a problem, not to find ingredients of success.”

http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/06/stories/2010010660842000.htm