New Delhi, October 08: President Pratibha Patil and Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday congratulated India-born scientist Professor Venkatraman Ramakrishnana for jointly winning this year’s Nobel prize for Chemistry.
In her message, Patil said she was very proud to hear of the news and was happy that Professor Ramakrishnan’s pursuit of understanding the structure and functioning of the ribosome has been recognised.
Patil hopes that the work will one day help in bringing a cure for those who suffer from incurable bacterial infections, a Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson said.
Meanwhile extending warm greetings to Professor Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Sonia Gandhi, in her message, said Ramakrishnana has made the entire country proud with his pioneering work which has won him the most coveted recognition.
Ramakrishnan shares the 2009 Nobel prize for Chemistry with Thomas E Steitz and Ada E Yonath for their work in the study of the structure and function of the ribosome.
Teacher very happy
“I am extremely happy to hear that my student Venkatraman Ramakrishnan has won the Nobel prize for Chemistry’, Prof M S Govindarajan, who taught him Physics at pre-university level at Annamalai University in Chidambaram where he was born, said today.
“I am very happy to hear the news. I am proud of him”, Govindarajan, a professor in Annamalai University said from Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu’s Cuddalore district.
Govindarajan taught physics to Ramakrishnan in 1968-69.
“He (Venkataraman) was one of the few top among the 300 students”, he said.
Govindarajan’s daughter, Dr G Radhika, an associate Professor at Annamalai University and Ramakrishnan’s classmate in PUC, said “I am very happy that I happened to be his classmate. I am sorry that I cannot recollect any thing more as forty years have passed’, she said.
Ramakrishnan, a senior scientist at MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Cambridge, today shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2009, along with two others.
Celebrations in universities
Students and teachers set off fire crackers distributed sweets today as celebrations rang out at Maharaja Sayajirao University (MSU) in Vadodara and Annamalai University in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, as one of their alumnus Venkatraman Ramakrishnan was named winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for 2009.
Students and science faculty members at MSU burst crackers and distributed sweets as news came in of Ramakrishnan, along with US’ Thomas Steitz and Ada Yonath of Israel, winning the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.
Retired Professor R C Shah, under whom Ramakrishnan studied, said he was very happy that his student has brought laurel to the faculty, university and country by winning the Nobel Prize.
“It is for the first time that a university student has won the grand Nobel prize”, Dean of the science faculty, Professor Nikhil Desai said.
Prof N D Singh of Physics department recalled Ramakrishnan had visited the faculty on January 31, 2005, to deliver a lecture on ‘Bio-physical approaches in deciphering the structure of biological macro-molecules and macro molecular complexes’.
Ramakrishnan’s alma mater Annamalai University greeted the news of its old student getting the Nobel prize with joy with students bursting crackers and sharing sweets.
“He did us proud,” said several students.
Indian scientists want ‘Venky’ to tour country
Indian scientists are elated at Venkatraman Ramakrishnan winning the Nobel Prize in chemistry and want him to tour the country to inspire young students towards studying science.
“It is a wonderful piece of news,” said Thirumalachari Ramasami, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology.
Ramasami, himself a renowned leather scientist, said Ramakrishnan’s achievement needs to be showcased across the country to inspire the youth to take up science.
“It is a great day for Indian science,” Samir Brahmachari, Director General of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) said pointing out the Ramakrishnan was a product of the Indian education system of the 1970s when resources were scarce in the country.
“We all are very delighted,” said M Vijayan, President of the Indian National Science Academy.
Ramasami reminisced about the days when Ramakrishnan had visited Chennai in 2001 to deliver the G N Ramachandran lecture. He had impressed the scientific community who believed that he was “high quality material”, Ramasami said.
“He is more like a guy next door and more closer to home,” the DST Secretary said adding that it was notable that the Nobel Prize came at a relatively young age.
“We can use his goodwill in the country to attract more students to science,” Ramasami said.
Better known as Venky among his friends, Professor Venkatraman Ramakrishnana, an India-born US scientist, won this year’s Nobel Prize for Chemistry jointly with Thomas E Steitz (US) and Ada E Yonath (Israel).
—Agencies