UK based Nobel laureates visit India

LONDON: Leading British Nobel winning scientists will visit India and deliver several lectures here this month, reflecting the deepening bilateral relationship in the field of scientific research.

Venki Ramakrishnan, an Indian-born American and British structural biologist and a 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, Russian-born Dutch-British physicist working at the University of Manchester, delivered a lecture at the sixth Bangalore India Nano earlier this month.

Sir James Bevan, British High Commissioner to India, said that the UK is hugely proud of its leading research community.

The Nobel Laureates visiting India are a perfect embodiment of world class scientists who have chosen the UK as the base for their cutting edge research.

Ramakrishnan, who won the 2009 Nobel prize in Chemistry 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 revolutionising our understanding of molecular biology."

Each year, we welcome the best young researchers from around the world to begin their careers in our labs.

The winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology, Sir Paul Nurse, said he was delighted to be able to give the Blackett Memorial Lecture in Dehli this week.

"India has a rich scientific heritage and its 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," he said.

"This presents exciting opportunities for UK and India based scientists to collaborate," he added.