Youth seldom chose a career in science Nobel laureate

Updated on: Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Chennai: He's won the chemistry Nobel, but answering about 20 people at one shot is a novelty for Dr Venkataraman Ramakrishnan. 'It's new but I don't mind, because I remember what it was like to be a young student in India and being fascinated by scientists,' said the Nobel laureate, better known as Venki, who spent about an hour-and-a-half on a webchat on Tuesday.

From his expectations for his children to his opinion on drug companies making huge profits off research available in the public domain, the Indian-American scientist who lives in the UK took a range of questions during the webchat organised by the US Consulate-General in Chennai.

Venki, who won this year's chemistry Nobel for "studies of the structure and function of ribosomes', said the youth seldom chose a career in science as there was more money in medicine, engineering and management. 'It is hard for them to choose science unless they really care about this kind of life. Humans are intrinsically curious, so there will always be people taking up science,' he said.

Venki took a 40 per cent pay cut to move to the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England. 'I don't think scientists care about money. I took a pay cut to move as the MRC lab had stable funding. It is important to pay scientists well so that they dont have to worry about money and are free to think about their research,' he explained.

One participant raised the issue of people of Indian origin being well represented in scientific collaborations, while scientists from India lagging. 'I think China puts a lot [more] money into research than India does, partly because it is a bigger economy,' he responded.

He also said India needs more institutes for basic sciences, modelled along the lines of the Indian Institute of Science, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, and National Centre for Biological sciences, apart from more IITs and IIMs.

He took a few questions on the importance of English to scientific research. 'As English is the international language of science, it is very important to be fluent in it. Those who are not are at a disadvantage, because they will find it more difficult not only to communicate but also read textbooks and papers,' he said. And his advice for Indian students looking to a career in science was, 'Follow your interests, have confidence, and do not feel insecure about advanced countries.' He also added that heâ€™s looking forward to visiting India periodically 'to interact with and encourage young people'.

Venki was inspired by physicists like Newton, Gauss, Planck, Einstein and Feynman. 'Later I read the double helix by James Watson and became interested in Watson and Crick,' he said. And though he works long hours every day, he says he still takes time off to go hiking and running. 'I used to play table tennis too. It is important to have physical activities in addition to work

Youth seldom chose a career in science Nobel laureate

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