G.N. Ramachandran

G.N. Ramachandran (1922-2001) is best known for the “Ramachandran plot” in health sciences. Apart from playing several important roles in our body, the proteins are also used in therapeutics. However, what had kept the investigators elude over a long time was the complex structure of the proteins. India’s Dr. G.N. Ramachandran, a scientist from Ernakulam with a strong background in theoretical physics, made seminal contribution in understanding the structure of protein molecules.

In 1963, he published the Ramachandran plot, which thence after became an essential tool to assess structures of proteins and other molecules. Ramachandran Plot by Dr. G.N. Ramachandra provides inputs for understanding peptide structure/ Collagen Triple Helical model for collagen structure. It was one of the most notable scientific papers by Indian scientists.

He received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award for Physics in 1961 and the Ewald Prize from the International Union of Crystallography for his ‘outstanding contributions to crystallography’ in 1999.

Leading scientists including Prof Linus Pauling and Prof Francis Crick regarded Prof Ramachandran as a scientist of Nobel Prize calibre. Unfortunately he never got it.