He had
hopes of becoming a cricketer when young (and a wicketkeeper at that!), and
even got into serious league level playoffs. However, fortune had different
plans for Dr.
Ramamoorthy Ramesh, a Professor at UC
Berkeley. He ended up making great contributions in scientific research and
getting international acclaim for his work on complex materials, more
specifically in the area of complex multifunctional oxide thin films,
nanostructures, and hetero-structures.
A graduate
from
Vivekananda College, Chennai, India, he got a further degree in metallurgy
from the famed
Indian Institute of
Science, where he
briefly worked on superconductivity. Later, he went on to get his PhD from UC
Berkeley in Material Science and has never looked back since. Some of the
implications of his work have led to materials used in
Solar
nanotechnology,
Memory drives used in computers,
and other similar products.
 |
| Dr.
Ramamoorthy Ramesh (Center), one of the leading contenders for this year's
Nobel Prize in Physics. Image source: Thomson Reuters |
Currently his name is one among this year’s top seven
possible Nobel contenders in Physics, according to the annual list of citation
laureates prepared by Thomson Reuters. They have, so far,
accurately forecast 35 Nobel Prize
winners since its inception in 2002. The annual Thomson Reuters Citation
Laureates Study mines scientific research citations to identify the most
influential researchers in the fields of chemistry, physics, medicine and
economics.
In an exclusive video-chat with Dr.
Natarajan Ganesan, a
Biomedical research scientist and founder of
'Scientists of Indian Origin',
Dr. Ramesh spoke at length about his roots from Chennai, his journey to
the United States in pursuit of higher studies, and eventual entry into the
world of science that has ranged from magnetic materials to high temperature
superconductors and beyond.
“Keep your ears open”
“My impression is… the actual discovery is accidental. You
just have to be ready for it” said Dr. Ramesh while trying to elaborate on
the process of discovery. When asked if
the discoveries he made so far were accidental OR a matter of observational
co-incidence he said, on a contemplative note, that it’s a combination of both;
and that it was quite hard to separate the two.
Focusing on the need to be aware which area to further pursue while
working on a phenomenon is also very key to the process of making new
discoveries, he said. For example, his monumental work on the phenomenon of
‘Colossal magnetoresistance’ (CMR), was a result of shifting the focus from working
on the oxides of some metals to their properties on ‘colossal behavior’.
When asked specifically about reports of his contributions
to the development of better memory drives used in computers, he went back to
his days in the early 90s with Bellcore (now
Telecordia
Technologies) when he was working on ways to expand upon his theoretical
work. Having also been an engineer for the better part of his career, one of
his motivating factors was ‘what cool things could one do if your research work
was successful’. Working on real world problems such as the reliability of data
storage systems, one thing led to another when he started getting ‘right kind
of data’ for not so right hypothesis. “You just got to look out” he said
casually.
For the younger generation
Dr. Ramesh was very unassuming when asked for any
specific words of advice to the younger generation of researchers wanting to
get into scientific exploration. “Doing science is a lot of fun” he said and
added further that, “sometimes you got to work long hours” but “in the end the
process is very rewarding”. However, he
also gently reminded that “we do not make too much money” “but we enjoy what we
do”.
Indian roots and the guiding
philosophy
Dr. Ramesh had his basic education in Chennai, India
before moving to United States for further research. Originally hailing from
Thanjavur (near Mayavaram and Kumbakonam), his parents had a high school
education. He also has a sister who has a PhD in Microbiology. However, his
busy lifestyle has not made him lose his connections with his family and cultural
roots. In fact, he equates the molecular nature of his work on complex
materials to that of Indian families, with “million different cousins,
grandmothers and aunts”. Though remarking in jest, he goes on to give the exact
nature of the analogy with ease.
With an apparent interest in Carnatic music, he equated the
discovery process to the discovery of a new raga. To illustrate further he
said, “Let me give you an example… If you are a Lalgudi Jayaraman (who passed
away not too recently)… you play the instrument 8 hours a day”. He went to add
that In the process of such a rigor and training, if one were to keep the ears
tuned, you either discover a new raga OR a new phenomenon (as was in his case).
When asked about the possible nomination for this year’s prize in Physics, he
remarked philosophically ‘Karmanyevaadhikaaraste…’ (
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते…) (Quoting from the Bhagavad Gita),
thus summarizing his entire attitude towards research and not expecting much
from the fruits of his labor. On a professional level, he continues to maintain
connections with his research colleagues and scientists back home in India,
sometimes on a daily basis.
(c) Copyright - . All rights reserved. No part of this posted material may be used without direct consent from the author - Natarajan Ganesan
