India-Born Nobel Laureate To Head Royal Society In UK

LONDON: India-born Nobel laureate Sir Venkatraman Ramakrishnan has been confirmed as president-elect of Britain's prestigious Royal Society.

The result of a ballot held by the fellowship was confirmed at a meeting of the society's council this week and Ramakrishnan, or Venki as he is popularly known, will take up the post on December 1, 2015.

"I feel very touched that the Royal Society has chosen me for this job, especially because I only came to Britain 16 years ago from the U.S." said the 63-year-old structural biologist who shared the 2009 chemistry Nobel prize for discovering the precise structure of ribosomes the molecular machines that manufacture proteins inside all living cells.

"I think in some ways the Royal Society, ever since its inception, has reflected the best traditions of openness in Britain. I think of Britain as a particularly open and tolerant society," he told BBC.

Ramakrishnan, who will be the first Indian-origin scientist to hold the post, was born in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, and studied biology in the U.S.

He is currently deputy director of the British Medical Research Council's Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Cambridge University.

He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 2003 and was knighted by Britain's Queen in 2012.

The Royal Society dates back to 1660 and its president is a key advocate for science in the UK and the world.

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