Historians of science categorise scientific progress into two main categories. One is the method of scientific revolutions; that is a general law or a mathematically-backed idea is married to conceptual insight. The discovery of the laws of gravity by Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity and, Charles Darwin’s formulation of the mechanism of evolution, fundamentally changed how we thought about space, time and the origins of our species.
Discovery, invention
Such narratives of science tend to valorise individuals and generate the impression that great breakthroughs happen because the rare genius comes by and illuminates the void.
The other way, as the historian of science, Peter Gallison has pointed out, is through the development of new tools and instruments. Because, in the 17th century, the Dutch amateur scientist, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, used lenses of his own making to peer into pond-scum and discovered wiggly creatures within them an entire scientific field — microbiology — was born. Because, at the dawn of the 20th century, physicist J.J. Thomson was able to figure out how to manipulate an electric field around a cathode ray tube (the device that once made televisions possible).
He realised that there were things called electrons, which revolved around a tightly packed nucleus of sub-atomic particles. Venki Ramakrishnan’s Gene Machine: The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome is one of the most valiant accounts of the triumph of instruments and methods.
Ramakrishnan, an Indian, moved to the U.S. at 19, to pursue a master’s degree in theoretical physics. He went on to get a Ph.D. and then decided that he ought to switch to biology because that was where he would likely make a major advance. What follows is an account of how Ramakrishnan got interested in ribosomes — the machinery in the cell that translates the genetic code inside DNA into proteins and, therefore, life itself.
A race, a pursuit
Ramakrishnan tells a gripping story about a race, a pursuit, in which he was one of the players. He’s frank about his fears and insecurities and how he was mostly unsure about whether he would close in on headway made by Ada Yonath, an Israeli crystallographer, and Thomas Steitz, in the U.S., in unravelling the structure of the ribosome.
Ramakrishnan would be one of the recipients of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009, along with Yonath and Steitz.
Understanding atoms
What the reader gets is a concise history of crystallography — the science of understanding how atoms are arranged in substances — and how it evolved from its birth in the early 20th century.
The story of the ribosome is like looking under a car hood and being made to appreciate the placement of the engine, and how the various parts combine together to execute your ride. This can be either tedious or overwhelming to the non-specialist but what lifts the book is Ramakrishnan’s telling of the modern process of scientific discovery.
His reflections on how scientists are vain, often insecure, anxious about their prospects of winning a Nobel are a refreshing peek into the daily practice of the professional scientist.
Here there are no quietly contemplative souls pondering the structures of cell-constituents but small bands of graduate students and a group leader, spending long hours in tedium, stressed about whether the approach they have chosen will yield results. We are led to see scientists as raiders on a hunt who are worried whether they stand to be scooped by a rival team.
Synthesising crystals
The ribosome is made of two prominent sub-units, a ‘large’ and ‘small’ one, and glory comes to those who are able to synthesise crystals that can reveal how the ribosome is composed. Knowing this would yield insight into how antibiotic drugs block the action of bacterial ribosomes and arrest microbial infections.
We are made privy to the role of luck — of being able to attract the right kind of students with skills, of being in the right laboratory and being surrounded by the right people. In his quest for the Nobel, he discusses how there is already an overture that smart scientists learn about.
This means being able to gain access and impress members of the Nobel sub-committee and making yourself available at the right conferences to discuss your work and the importance of it.
Then there’s a personal recounting of life-after-a-Nobel. Here Ramakrishnan pokes fun at the notion of Nobel laureates suddenly transforming into oracles and called upon to discuss their view about matters beyond their expertise. Given that modern science works on extensive collaboration across countries and tapping into the right networks, just like one is more likely to found a billion dollar company if in the vicinity of Silicon Valley, the book offers invaluable, readable insight to the aspirant scientist.
Gene Machine: The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome ; Venki Ramakrishnan, HarperCollins, ₹699.
