Nobel science

摘要

During the last couple of years there has been a lot of discussion and concern as to why Indian institutes, universities and Indian scientists (in India) are not in a position to win a Nobel Prize with the single exception of C. V. Raman, 80 years ago. This discussion reached a crescendo when Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, with initial science education in India followed by education and research in the USA and UK shared the 2009 Nobel Prize for chemistry. Such a concern emanates from: (a) Nobel Prize represents acme of success in science which testifies to the soundness of scientific institutions and their work culture conducive to creativity and competitive science. (b) Our country does have some institutes of international reputation, viz. IITs, IISc, CCMB, NII, to name a few. Research papers from these institutes are published in journals of high impact factors including Nature and Science and have international visibility but have remained short of reaching the ‘finishing line’.