Gandhi Jayanti is celebrated on 2nd October every year as the birth day of Mahatma Gandhi, Father of India. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the apostle of peace was born on 2 October 1869 at Porbandar in Gujarat. He was married to a Kasturba Gandhi at the age of 13 and is known for his invaluable contribution to win back India's freedom from the hands of the British while following the principles of truth, honesty and non-violence. During his stay in South Africa earlier in life, he protested against the colonial and racial discrimination and the Asiatic (Black) Act and the Transvaal Immigration Act with the aid of a brilliant strategic move of starting a non-violent civil disobedience movement. He returned to India in 1915.
He established the Satyagraha Ashram in Ahmedabad and the Sabarmati Ashram, which became a platform for introducing long-needed social reforms such as 'Harijan' welfare, small-scale industries and self-reliance and rehabilitation of lepers. Gandhi protested against the Rowlatt Bills and started a non-violent non-cooperation movement in India against the tyrant British rule. He violated the salt law by marching to Dandi in March 1930 and making salt and started the Civil Disobedience Movement in January 1932. In 1942, he nailed in the final nail in the grave of the British Government with his 'Quit India' movement. He led his life that confirmed to his preaching. His morality and his doctrines on non-violence have become a beacon of light for the world. People pay a visit to Raj Ghat, the cremation site of Gandhi ji and various museums and Ashrams on this day and Gandhi Jayanti is observed as a national holiday in India.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Indian-origin shares Nobel Prize for Chemistry
London: Indian-origin Scientist Venkatraman Ramakrishnan shares the Nobel Prize in Chemistry this year with Thomas A. Steitz and Ada E. Yonath, it was announced in Stockholm Wednesday.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said that the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2009 awards studies of one of life's core processes: the ribosome's translation of DNA information into life. Ribosomes produce proteins, which in turn control the chemistry in all living organisms. As ribosomes are crucial to life, they are also a major target for new antibiotics, it said in a statement. 
Born in 1952 in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, Ramakrishnan did his B.Sc. in Physics (1971) from Baroda University in Gujarat and later migrated to the U.S. to continue his studies where he later got settled and attained U.S. citizenship. He earned his Ph.D in Physics from Ohio University in the U.S. and later worked as a graduate student at the University of California from 1976-78. Ramakrishnan, now a Senior Scientist at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge has authored several important papers in academic journals.
Ramakrishnan and Steitz are U.S. citizens while Yonath is from Israel. Ramakrishnan joins an illustrious list of Indians and people of Indian origin, who have won the Nobel Prize in various disciplines - including Rabindranath Tagore, C.V. Raman, Hargobind Khorana, Mother Teresa, S. Chandrashekhar and Amartya Sen.
Ramakrishnan, Steitz and Yonath have been awarded for showing what the ribosome looks like and how it functions at the atomic level. All three have used a method called X-ray crystallography to map the position for each and every one of the hundreds of thousands of atoms that make up the ribosome.
"Inside every cell in all organisms, there are DNA molecules. They contain the blueprints for how a human being, a plant or a bacterium, looks and functions. But the DNA molecule is passive. If there was nothing else, there would be no life," a statement from the academy of sciences said.
The blueprints become transformed into living matter through the work of ribosomes.
An understanding of the ribosome's innermost workings is important for a scientific understanding of life. This knowledge can be put to a practical and immediate use; many of today's antibiotics cure various diseases by blocking the function of bacterial ribosomes. Without functional ribosomes, bacteria cannot survive. This is why ribosomes are such an important target for new antibiotics, the statement added.
This year's three Laureates have all generated 3D models that show how different antibiotics bind to the ribosome. These models are now used by scientists in order to develop new antibiotics, directly assisting the saving of lives and decreasing humanity's suffering.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said that the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2009 awards studies of one of life's core processes: the ribosome's translation of DNA information into life. Ribosomes produce proteins, which in turn control the chemistry in all living organisms. As ribosomes are crucial to life, they are also a major target for new antibiotics, it said in a statement.
Born in 1952 in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, Ramakrishnan did his B.Sc. in Physics (1971) from Baroda University in Gujarat and later migrated to the U.S. to continue his studies where he later got settled and attained U.S. citizenship. He earned his Ph.D in Physics from Ohio University in the U.S. and later worked as a graduate student at the University of California from 1976-78. Ramakrishnan, now a Senior Scientist at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge has authored several important papers in academic journals.
Ramakrishnan and Steitz are U.S. citizens while Yonath is from Israel. Ramakrishnan joins an illustrious list of Indians and people of Indian origin, who have won the Nobel Prize in various disciplines - including Rabindranath Tagore, C.V. Raman, Hargobind Khorana, Mother Teresa, S. Chandrashekhar and Amartya Sen.
Ramakrishnan, Steitz and Yonath have been awarded for showing what the ribosome looks like and how it functions at the atomic level. All three have used a method called X-ray crystallography to map the position for each and every one of the hundreds of thousands of atoms that make up the ribosome.
"Inside every cell in all organisms, there are DNA molecules. They contain the blueprints for how a human being, a plant or a bacterium, looks and functions. But the DNA molecule is passive. If there was nothing else, there would be no life," a statement from the academy of sciences said.
The blueprints become transformed into living matter through the work of ribosomes.
An understanding of the ribosome's innermost workings is important for a scientific understanding of life. This knowledge can be put to a practical and immediate use; many of today's antibiotics cure various diseases by blocking the function of bacterial ribosomes. Without functional ribosomes, bacteria cannot survive. This is why ribosomes are such an important target for new antibiotics, the statement added.
This year's three Laureates have all generated 3D models that show how different antibiotics bind to the ribosome. These models are now used by scientists in order to develop new antibiotics, directly assisting the saving of lives and decreasing humanity's suffering.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
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