From ribosomes to royal charters: An interview with Venkatraman Ramakrishnan from the LMB in Cambridge, UK, and President Elect of the Royal Society.

Abstract

EMBO Reports (ER): Dr. Ramakrishnan, you're the President Elect of the Royal Society and will take up the post in December to succeed Paul Nurse. What do you see as the most important role of the society—and academic societies in general—in the 21st century, as science and knowledge play an ever‐greater role in peoples' lives? Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (VR): The general goal of the Royal Society has not changed for 350 years: it is the promotion of knowledge for the benefit of humanity. How you pursue that fundamental goal has obviously changed over the years. Science in the 21st century is an enormously bigger enterprise than it was in the 1600s, and our society is increasingly technological. So one goal is to ensure that science is adequately supported. In a democratic society, there has to be public support for science, and this leads to making sure that the public is informed about science, which has vastly improved the standard of living we enjoy today over the past 200 to 300 years. The other aspect of science is cultural, which is that it is increasing humanity's store of knowledge. People often underestimate how interested the average non‐scientific person is about science. I've talked to people from all walks of life and they're very excited and curious; they often ask me about my work, they ask intelligent questions and they're quite happy to support science. This leads to education: we have to make sure, starting right from school, that our young people are trained properly in science. And, finally, the Royal Society has always promoted international collaborations and exchanges in science. Take, for example, Antoniee van Leeuwenhoek: he was not originally a scientist, but he made the first powerful microscopes and many discoveries. These were first published by the Royal Society and gained …