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UK based Nobel laureates visit India

Leading British Nobel winning scientists will deliver several lectures in India this month.

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Nobel Prize

In a reflection of the deepening bilateral relationship in the field of scientific research, leading British Nobel winning scientists will deliver several lectures in India this month. Dr Venki Ramakrishnan, Fellow of the Royal Society, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge and Padma Vibhushan winner, will speak in New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune and Mumbai.

Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society and Director of the UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation, will deliver the Blackett Memorial Lecture in New Delhi.

Professor Sir Andre Geim, Regius Professor of Physics, Langworthy Professor at the University of Manchester and Director of the Manchester Centre for Mesoscience and Nanotechnology, delivered a lecture at the sixth Bangalore India Nano earlier this month.

Sir James Bevan, British High Commissioner to India, said:

The UK is hugely proud of its leading research community. The Nobel Laureates visiting India are a perfect embodiment of this – world class scientists who have chosen the UK as the base for their cutting edge research. With 78 Nobel prizes in Science and Technology and with four of the top ten universities globally, the UK is a great place to pursue further research or study.

Dr Ramakrishnan said:

I moved to the UK from the USA 15 years ago because of the first-rate intellectual environment and stable support in Cambridge for research that over the past 50 years has resulted in revolutionizing our understanding of molecular biology. Each year, we welcome the best young researchers from around the world to begin their careers in our labs.

Sir Paul Nurse said:

I’m delighted to be able to give the Blackett Memorial Lecture in Dehli this week. India has a rich scientific heritage and it’s clear that the current leadership is committed to building the country’s reputation as a rising power in science, for example through its Space Research Progamme. This presents exciting opportunities for UK and India based scientists to collaborate.

Further information:

  1. Dr Ramakrishnan is a Fellow of the Royal Society, a member of EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organization) and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009. He received India’s second highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan, in 2010 and was knighted in the 2012 for services to Molecular Biology. Following Delhi, he will speak in Hyderabad at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, the Birla Science Centre and the C R Rao Advanced Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science. In Bangalore he will speak at the Indian Institute of Science and National Centre for Biological Sciences. In Pune, at the National Centre for Cell Science and IISER Pune. And in Mumbai at the Tata Institute for Fundamental Research and the University of Mumbai. He will be in Delhi from 14-18 December. Dr Ramakrishnan’s interview on Rajya Sabha TV.

  2. Sir Paul Nurse is President of the Royal Society. He is a geneticist who works on what controls the division and shape of cells. He was Professor of Microbiology at the University of Oxford, CEO of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund and Cancer Research UK and President of Rockefeller University New York. He is currently Director and Chief Executive of the Francis Crick Institute. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2001 and the Royal Society Copley Medal in 2005.

  3. Professor Sir Andre Geim is Regius Professor of Physics, Langworthy Professor at the University of Manchester and Director of the Manchester Centre for Mesoscience and Nanotechnology. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2010, is a Fellow of the Royal Society and was knighted in 2012. He delivered a lecture in Bangalore 5 December.

  4. The Blackett and Jagdish Chandra Bose Memorial Lectures is an exchange lecture between India and the UK. The Blackett Memorial Lecture (when held in India) and the Jagdish Chandra Bose Memorial Lecture (when held in the UK) were established by the Indian National Science Academy and the Royal Society in 1975. The Society proposes UK lecturers and the Academy proposes Indian lecturers. The lecture was named in honour of the physicist Patrick Blackett FRS, who had close associations with India and Jagdish Chandra Bose FRS who studied in the UK.

  5. The UK has produced 78 Nobel Prizes in Science and Technology, second only to the US and the most in Europe. In addition, the UK has a hugely international research base. 72% of UK researchers have published whilst associated with institutions abroad and 48% of UK papers result from international collaboration.

Marcus Winsley, Director,
Press and Communications
British High Commission,
Chanakyapuri, New Delhi 110021
Tel: 44192100; Fax: 24192411

Mail to: chandeep.kaur@fco.gov.uk
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Published 13 December 2013