I choose a path that is not very standard: Dr Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

he's endowed science with crucial details of RNA from every sequence this consequence Nobel laureate and a living legend Thank You Ramakrishnan my feeling is that even if you're not a scientist you really should have a certain minimum education in science because we live in a highly technical society the best way I can help is by being a good role model by doing good work by training good students thank you it's a great honor to be here especially with such distinguished company scientists are not known for their public speaking abilities so I'll do my best one of the things that I think about when I look back on my career is I chose a path that's not very standard there were many setbacks as some of you may have read I didn't get into any of the IITs I didn't get into a prestigious medical school but on the other hand I did have an interest in physics and I pursued that and my parents allowed me to do that when I went to the u.s. I didn't exactly go to the best schools in the country and when I started finishing my PhD in physics I found I didn't actually have an aptitude for it and I had to go to graduate school again and this caused my father some consternation at the time and so it was like taking a step backwards in order to go into a new field and then when I finished my training some of you may know that I applied to over 50 positions and didn't get a single interview and then finally ended up with a job that lasted about 15 months but or I could find something I liked so I suppose one of the lessons is that you should pursue your interests but keep your options open when there are setbacks the other lesson I've learned is none of us does anything by ourselves all of them even natural geniuses like some of the great cricket stars you've seen today have had amazing chance elements they've met coaches they met fellow players who encouraged them for scientists we've had mentors we've had people we've randomly connected with that have influenced us in our lives so we we never achieve anything by ourselves we achieve it with the help of a community of people around us and the third thing I should say is that just as people have helped us along once we reach a certain stage it's our job to help young scientists and young people achieve their dreams and and the same goes true for any profession so thank you very much

Channel: NDTV

Views: 112,633

Keywords: 25 Greatest Global Living Indians Awards Ceremony, 25greatest, NDTV @ 25, Pranab Mukherjee, Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Nobel Laureate

Id: kLwe1paDI2I

Length: 3min 28sec (208 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 14 2013