Indian-US Scientist V Ramakrishnan Heads Britan’s Prestigious Royal Society

20 March, London

Indian-American scientist Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, whose pioneering work in molecular biology won him the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, will head Britain’s prestigious Royal Society, a communion of the many of the world’s most distinguished scientists.

The result of a ballot held by the fellowship was confirmed at a meeting of the Society’s Council this week.

Dr Ramakrishnan, who will take up the post on the 1st of December this year, will succeed geneticist Sir Paul Nurse, also a Nobel Laureate.

Dr Ramakrishnan shared the 2009 chemistry Nobel Prize for discovering the precise structure of ribosomes – the molecular machines that manufacture proteins inside all living cells – with Thomas Steitz, of Yale University, and Ada Yonath, of the Weizmann Institute of Science, Jerusalem.

The Royal Society dates back to 1660 and its president is a key advocate for science in the UK and the world. Previous presidents of the Royal Society have included Isaac Newton, Christopher Wren, Samuel Pepys, Joseph Banks, Humphry Davy, and Ernest Rutherford.

Known to most as Venky, the scientist is based at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge.