Cambridge: Speaking exclusively to NDTV in Cambridge, Indian-born scientist Venkatraman Ramakrishanan, who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, says he thought that someone was playing a prank on him when the Swedish Academy called to tell him he had won the prize.
Excerpts from the interview: NDTV: So you thought it was a prank call when you got the news this morning (Wednesday)?
Dr Ramakrishnan: Yes, because there have been a number of awards that have gone for the ribosome, so I just felt that it was unlikely I would be one of the people to be awarded the prize and I have friends who like to play practical jokes so I thought it was one of them who had hired somebody to imitate a Swedish accent
NDTV: So what did you say? Call me back? Or did they call you?
Dr Ramakrishnan: No no, but I knew that there are one or two people I knew in the community, one particularly well, so I said to the head of the academy that well if this is real then let me talk to Mons Edinburgh and sure enough that's when I was shocked.