Venki Ramakrishnan
Biologist and Nobel laureate
Venki Ramakrishnan is a biologist who shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work on the structure of the ribosome. He is a former president of the Royal Society and wrote Why We Die.
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About Venki Ramakrishnan
Venki Ramakrishnan was born and raised in India, where he earned a degree in physics. At 19 he moved to the United States intending to earn a doctorate in physics, though biology soon caught his attention. After almost three decades in the US, he moved to England in 1999 to work at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. His Nobel Prize work helped establish the atomic structure of the ribosome, the molecular complex that reads genetic information to make proteins. He led the Royal Society as its president between 2015 and 2020, and in those years he grew interested in science policy and in engaging the public. He has written two books. Gene Machine (2018) is a memoir about the race to find the ribosome's structure. Why We Die (2024) looks at the biology of aging and death, current efforts to fight aging, and the social consequences of extending lifespan.