Knighthood for Indian-origin scientist

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, the Indian-origin scientist whose pioneering work in Molecular Biology won him the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, has been knighted in the New Years Honours List 2012.

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, the Indian-origin scientist whose pioneering work in Molecular Biology won him the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, has been knighted in the New Years Honours List 2012.

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Ramakrishnan, a US citizen, is based at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. He has been conferred knighthood "for services to Molecular Biology", according to an official announcement here.

He will be called 'Sir Venkatraman Ramakrishnan' after Queen Elizabeth confers knighthood on him at a special function at the Buckingham Palace later in the new year.

Born in Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu, Ramakrishnan (58), studied at Baroda University, Ohio University and the University of California, San Diego.

Ramakrishnan was awarded Padma Vibhushan in 2010.

Two other Nobel laureates - Professors Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, from the University of Manchester – involved in the creation of graphene, a sheet of carbon just one atom thick, have also received knighthoods. They won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2010.

In the 2010 New Year Honors List, Indian-origin Mota Singh, Britain's first Sikh judge, was honoured with a knighthood.

Other Indian origin individuals to be honoured in the 2012 list include Professor Dinesh Kumar Makhan Lai Bhugra, lately president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, for services to Psychiatry.

Also honoured are broadcaster Surjit Singh Ghuman, founder of Panjab Radio, Dr Hasmukh Joshi, Dr Raman Kapur, Madhurika Patel, Harbans Kaur Singh, Bakhshish Singh Sodhi and cricketer Umesh Valjee (for services to Deaf Cricket).