'Some famous scientists did not nurture talent'

Chandigarh: Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, the renowned Indian-American scientist whose pathbreaking work in molecular biology won him the 2009 Nobel Prize in chemistry, has said some of the famous Indian scientists did not nurture equally famous people under them. Often they become famous but people around them have not risen up to their level, he said, while interacting with doctors and PhD students at PGI on Tuesday.
He, however, felt the country has a huge potential and capable of doing first-grade science. Ramakrishnan talked about the need of proper mentorship, he said, "When I stepped down as the head of the division at Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of molecular biology on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, UK, my main goal was to hire young people who were smarter." "There is lots of first grade and competent scientists but very few world leaders," he added, attributing this to lack of mentorship. Citing example of his institute, where young scientists were mentored by experienced experts, he said, "It has 400 people, including faculty members, students and post doctorates, and has yet produced 14 Nobel laureates."
Ventakraman highlighted the significance of resources, infrastructure and necessary funding for science, but also emphasized on encouraging work environment and having an eye for working on important problems. "As many as 99% papers published will be forgotten. Most are not even read. The remaining 1% have some impact. Try and aim for that impact," he advised.
PGI director Dr Yogesh Chawla said the Nobel laureate was here for a very short time. "He gave a motivational talk. We would communicate further with him for collaborations," he said.
An overview of PGI was presented to apprise Venkatraman Ramakrishnan on the activities and achievements of the Institute. Ramakrishnan appreciated the outreach programmes of PGI. He felt such programmes would help people suffering in villages and distant places. Ramakrishnan had an interactive session with PGI faculty, resident doctors and PhD students. He told clinical residents might get immediate satisfaction by treating patients, but PhD students have to struggle for results. However, a link between these two groups is essential for conducting good research and helping patient management, he said.
Prof Venkatraman Ramakrishnan delivered the Har Gobind Khorana science colloquium talk on Tuesday at the Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH). His topic was "The Use of Recent Developments in Electron Microscopy to Study Ribosome structure". The Nobel laureate provided a brief overview of the current understanding of the mechanism of function of ribosomes (protein synthesis machinery of the cells). Mainly, he emphasized about the recent developments in electron microscopy that are simplifying the process of deciphering the complex macromolecules. He also emphasized, that soon more of these development will rival the currently used X-ray crystallography techniques that are currently used for understanding the structures of macromolecules.
He advised students to focus on research goals rather than on techniques used to achieve these goals. The talk was presided over by Dr Girish Sahni, director general, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.