A great way to begin your book
journey this year would be with this highly accessible memoir of a journey in
science by the 2009 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry and Cambridge Molecular
Biologist Venki Ramakrishnan who uncovered the structure of ribosome. Arguably,
the greatest discovery in structural biology since Watson and Crick decoded the
double helix of DNA, unearthing the structure of ribosome had two important
effects on research in biology. The first was to bring back to research focus
the evolutionary link that RNA is and the second to point to the future where
proteins dominate gene action.
This book is about
Ramakrishnan’s personal journey from being a graduate student in Physics in the
1970s USA, who switched disciplines (Physics to Biology) and continents (US to
the UK) and how it made him the dark horse in the race to uncover the central
dogma of life. This book reads like a racy thriller at times bringing to light
how scientific communities work through collaboration and competition through
the generosity of strangers and animosity of colleagues to piece together a
complex puzzle amidst the business and politics of science as it is done today.
Ramakrishnan writes with self-deprecating
wry humour and acknowledges the importance of a number of teams of people who
helped in solving the puzzle one clear insight at a time. This generous acknowledgement
of people (often with photographs) make the work tender and human despite the
dark sides of human ambition (including his own) that he portrays vividly and honestly.
In the process, he raises some larger questions that is worth pondering about.
The first of these is about
how conservative and conformist the prizes in science are today, behaving like
clubs, acknowledging some types of ideas (and therefore people) over others, institutionalizing
elitism that penalizes outsiders and young researchers. This discussion
highlights how assumptions are made about the worthiness of a scientific contribution,
the arbitrary rules that supports these assumptions, how science progresses
through ‘fashionable ideas and big funding’ over small and meaningful group collaboration.
The second insight is about
how scientific discovery essentially works in today’s world- with the
old-school long and hard work, the role of luck, the cost of errors and the strength
of genuine human solidarity beyond the acrimonious race to the finish.
This is a book that is
intensely personal and immensely impersonal at the same time, written after critical
reflection and with honesty and deep concern by a gifted scientist and writer.
What better way to kick start a new year than the story of human suffering and
success, personal victory and historic glory, private curiosity leading up to
human quest to know beauty and truth? Happy 2019!
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