Pepys, Newton, Wren … now Venki is the champion of British scientists

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan takes over the Royal Society at a time when the need for leadership and education is at its greatest

The distinguished scientist Venkatraman Ramakrishnan is not an easy person to dislodge from a given path. Indeed, there are times when the Indian-born biochemist - who has taken up the presidency of the world's oldest scientific organisation, the Royal Society - can display remarkable obstinacy. This was illustrated in October 2009, when Venki - as he is universally known - was told he was to be awarded the Nobel prize for chemistry.

Far from celebrating, Venki refused to believe the news and accused his caller - from the Royal Swedish Academy - of being a lousy hoaxer. "We have quite a few pranksters in the lab and I thought this was one of them," Venki told the Observer in a 2013 interview. "I even congratulated the man, ironically, on his Swedish accent."