We document a few of the many special moments during Venki Ramakrishnan’s brief visit to the Physics & Astronomy Department before and during Ohio University’s 2019 Graduate Commencement where he received an honorary degree.
Along with meeting molecular biologists and giving a special biology colloquium, Ramakrishnan presented a public lecture, and met with small groups of students and faculty in the Physics & Astronomy Department and Honors Tutorial College to learn more about their research and aspirations. During his visit, he signed numerous copies of his new book, ‘Gene Machine: The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome’.
Ramakrishnan is a structural biologist who received his Ph.D. in Physics from Ohio University in 1976. He then spent two years studying biology before beginning work on ribosomes at Yale University. He shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and was knighted by the Queen of England in 2012 for services to Molecular Biology. He was elected President of the Royal Society for a term of five years starting in 2015.
After receiving the highest honors in his profession, why would Dr. Ramakrishnan travel from London to Athens, Ohio, to receive an honorary degree from his alma mater? Watch the clip where he provides the answer (in part), as he addresses the graduates during his Commencement speech.
