DOING INDIA PROUD ~ Venky Ramakrishnan is NOBEL LAUREATE

Dear (s) 

Chidambaram, located at 11°23′58.87″N 79°41′37.04″E11.3996861°N 79.6936222°E, a municipality in Tamil Nadu and taluk hq of Cuddalore is famous for its ancient and renowned shrine of Lord Nataraja in the form of a cosmic dancer. There are times when places get more famous due to individuals – today is one for it is the birth place of the winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry - Venkatraman Ramakrishnan.

This year's three laureates, will share the 10 million kronor ($1.4 million) award, for generating three-dimensional models that show how different antibiotics bind to ribosomes and one amongst them has an Indian connection. The Nobel Prize is a Swedish & International monetary prize, established by the 1895 will and estate of Swedish chemist and inventor Alfred Nobel. It was first awarded in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace in 1901. The Nobel Prizes in the specific disciplines (Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Literature) and the Prize in Economics, which is commonly identified with them, are widely regarded as the most prestigious award one can receive in those fields.

On 27 November 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his last will and testament, giving the largest share of his fortune to a series of prizes, the Nobel Prizes. 100 Nobel Prizes in Chemistry have been awarded since 1901. It was not awarded on eight occasions. It is stated that if none of the works under consideration is found to be of the importance indicated, the prize money shall be reserved until the following year. If, even then, the prize cannot be awarded, the amount shall be added to the Foundation's restricted funds. Moreover no prizes were awarded during the two World Wars.

Though an American now, India has reasons to celebrate this Nobel moment when Science salutes the work of Venkataraman Ramakrishnan, who painstakingly, atom by atom, decoded the structure of ribosomes those tiny worksheds in each cell where life is built. Ribosomes are small granules, about 20 nanometers in width (1 nanometer = one billionth of a meter) found in all cells. Using the code carried by DNA molecules, they build proteins. Dr Venkatraman ‘Venky’ Ramakrishnan, 58, who had his early education in the temple town of Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, and Vadodara, Gujarat, moved out to US. Dr Ramakrishnan follows in the footsteps of Subramanyan Chandrasekhar, who won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1983, and the country’s first Nobel laureate, Sir C V Raman, who won the same prize in 1930. 

Dr Ramakrishnan is currently affiliated with the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge, UK. He shares the prize with Dr Thomas Steitz of Yale University, Connecticut, and Dr Ada Yonath of Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. “This year’s three Laureates have all generated 3D models that show how different antibiotics bind to the ribosome. These models are now used by scientists in order to develop new antibiotics, directly assisting the saving of lives and decreasing humanity’s suffering,” the Nobel citation explained.

With regards,

S Sampathkumar

சாதரணமாக சின்ன சின்ன சினிமா விஷயத்துக்கு எல்லாம் நாட்ராம்பள்ளியில் இருந்து நியூயார்க் வரை புகழ்வது நமது கலாச்சாரம்.  இது மிகவும் பெருமைப்பட வேண்டிய விஷயம்.  எனவேதான் இந்த சிறு குறிப்பு

Addition on 20.10.2009

Yesterday read an exclusive Interview of the Nobel Laurate in Dinamalar.  He clarified that his parents moved out to Gujarat in his early ages and he had his schooling only in Gujarat.

Whilst the honour of his birth at Chidambaram remains, he has criticised a claim made by a person of having taught him in his PUC at Chidambaram, which is reported by him to be totally far from truth.