Ramakrishnan

London, March 19: Chemistry Nobel laureate Venkatraman Ramakrishnan has been elected the next president of the Royal Society, a post previously held by scientists of the eminence of Isaac Newton and Ernest Rutherford.

"Venki", as he prefers to be called, will succeed Paul Nurse, whose term ends on November 30 this year.

The Royal Society is Britain's - possibly the world's - leading science organisation, whose president is chosen by some 1,200 Fellows who send in their postal votes.

A spokesperson revealed that the Society's council, its board of trustees, "unanimously nominated Venki Ramakrishnan, who was endorsed by over 98 per cent of votes, in a turnout of close to 50 per cent".

Venki, based in Cambridge where he cycles everywhere, was characteristically modest and understated in talking to The Telegraph.

"My reaction is that I am very honoured to have been chosen," said Venki, who would much rather his appointment was seen as recognition by his peers for a fellow scientist rather than a cause for Indian triumphalism.

His view is that science belongs to everyone and that knowledge should be shared without any barriers. Still, he knows Indians are Indians and Mother India will claim him today as her own - though most of his work was done in America and in recent years in Cambridge.

"Considering I'm an immigrant who came here relatively late in life only 16 years ago, it is a reflection of the wonderful openness that the Royal Society has shown ever since its inception," he added.

So what does he have to do as the president, for this newspaper knows he prefers to lead a quiet life in Cambridge getting on with his research?

"It is quite a lot of work," he replied. "It will mean spending a fair amount of time in London."

Lunch?

Venki, a south Indian veggie, knew of the perfect place: "The Royal Society is a 10-minute walk from the New Woodlands on Panton Place, a south Indian vegetarian restaurant."

Most Indians, who do not have a clue about his work with ribosomes, tend to treat Venki as a pop star, much as they do with Amartya Sen - incidentally, both are Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge.

The Royal Society has been around rather a long time and some of Venki's predecessors as president are quite well known in science.

"There have been 60 presidents of the Royal Society since it was founded in 1660," according to the Society.

"Previous presidents of the Royal Society have included Christopher Wren, Samuel Pepys, Isaac Newton, Joseph Banks, Humphry Davy and Ernest Rutherford."

Venki will basically have to be an ambassador for science, which is a role he quite likes.

After all, according to the Society, its "strategic priorities are: promoting science and its benefits; recognising excellence in science; supporting outstanding science; providing scientific advice for policy; fostering international and global cooperation; education and public engagement".

Venki's lab in Cambridge explained: "Venki's research focuses on the structure and function of the ribosome, the molecular machine that synthesises proteins by translating genetic information held in mRNA, and on the action of antibiotics on this process. Bacterial ribosomes are different from those in higher organisms, making them good targets for drugs, so this information is critical in developing new antibiotics to combat infection and disease."

The Society said about Venki: "He received the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 2009 with Tom Steitz and Ada Yonath and was awarded a knighthood in 2012. Sir Venki is currently deputy director of the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Biology and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. He has a BSc in physics from Baroda University, India, and a PhD from Ohio University in the USA. He studied biology at the University of California, San Diego, and worked as a post-doctoral fellow at Yale University."

It went on: "Subsequently, he was a biophysicist at Brookhaven National Laboratory and professor of biochemistry at the University of Utah before he moved to the UK in 1999. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2003, and is also a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina (the German Science Academy) and a foreign member of the Indian National Science Academy."