Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

“There's a perception out there that the U.K. has become unfriendly to immigrants. Even if that isn't true, the very fact that that is the perception will make people not even want to come.”

“Science today is a highly collaborative exercise, and to convert it into a contest, as the Nobel does, is a bad way to look at science.”

“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.”

“I began studying ribosomes as a postdoctoral fellow in Peter Moore's laboratory in 1978.”

“I think it's important to give young people the freedom to follow their ideas and pursue their interests.”

“Ultimately, biological phenomena involve molecules, and understanding them involves understanding the underlying chemistry. In my opinion, this is a particularly exciting area of chemistry.”

“Science is an international enterprise where discoveries in one part of the world are useful in other parts.”

“Governments and scientists in India need to ensure that politics and religious ideology do not intrude into science. They belong to separate spheres, and if they are not kept separate, it is science in India and the country as a whole that will suffer.”

“My childhood and adolescence were filled with visiting scientists from both India and abroad, many of whom would stay with us. A life of science struck me as being both interesting and particularly international in its character.”

“Unusually for an Indian man of his generation, my father, being aware of my mother's intellectual abilities, encouraged her to go abroad by herself to obtain a Ph.D.”

“My mother, R. Rajalakshmi, taught at Annamalai University in Chidambaram, and during the day, I was well cared for by aunts and grandparents in the usual way of an extended Indian family.”

“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.”

“We are all human beings, and our nationality is simply an accident of birth.”

“The Royal Society view is completely apolitical: it will judge anything based on the evidence. One of the big strengths of the Society is that is it widely perceived as impartial and above the fray. We'd like to make sure it stays that way.”

“I cannot imagine a more enjoyable place to work than in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology where I work.”

“I think we are intrinsically prone to being irrational and superstitious. A lot of it comes from our fear of the unknown and the fear of a lack of control over our fate.”

“I am still the same person doing the same science. Why are people so impressed when some academy in Sweden gives an award?”

“You can only go into science because you're interested in it.”

“Nobody has approached me about an offer to work in India. However, I can categorically state that if they did so, I would refuse immediately.”

“If I were to take an undergraduate chemistry exam, I would probably fail.”