Sir Venki Ramakrishnan delivers this year's Haldane Lecture

The thousands of genes in our DNA are translated by ribosomes - ancient, enormous molecular machines that read the genetic code to make the thousands of proteins that carry out the functions of life. Although the ribosome was discovered in the 1950s, unravelling its million atom structure took over four decades. Venki Ramakrishnan will frame this in term of his career and show how science does not proceed in a series of logical steps but in fits and starts.

Sir Venki is a structural biologist who in 2009 received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and was knighted in 2012. In 2015, he was elected as President of the Royal Society. 

The Wolfson Haldane Lecture is given by a speaker of international standing in the field of science each Hilary Term. It is named after J.S. and J.B.S. Haldane, who carried out a number of pioneering experiments in the house that formerly stood on the College site. 

The Wolfson Haldane 2019 Lecture: 'The Quest for the Structure of the Ribosome: A Personal Voyage', Thursday 7 February 2019, The Leonard Wolfson Auditorium. Learn more