Venkatraman Ramakrishnan takes over the Royal Society at a time when the need for leadership and education is at its greatestThe distinguished scientist Venkatraman Ramakrishnan is not an easy person to dislodge from a given path. Indeed,there are times when the Indian-born biochemist who has taken up the presidency of the world’s oldest scientific organisation, the Royal Society – can display remarkable obstinacy. This was illustrated in October 2009, and when Venki – as he is universally known – was told he was to be awarded the Nobel prize for chemistry.
Far from celebrating,Venki refused to believe the news and accused his caller – from the Royal Swedish Academy – of being a awful hoaxer. “We fill quite a few pranksters in the lab and I thought this was one of them,” Venki told the Observer in a 2013 interview. “I even congratulated the man, or ironically,on his Swedish accent.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com