The teachers at M S University Physics Department rejoiced when Nobel Laureate Venkatraman Ramakrishnan acknowledged his teachers in an email he sent to the head of the Physics Department. Prof A C Sharma,Head of Physics Department,to whom the e-mail was addressed to,said: This was part of our attempt to reach out to Venkatraman and it makes us proud that he vividly remembers his college days and the teachers who motivated him then. Recollecting his teachers at the science faculty in the late 60s,Ramakrishnan mentioned Dr S K Shah and Dr H S Desai in the email,saying they were instrumental in introducing the Berkeley Physics Course and Feynman lectures to the undergraduates. He also mentioned Madhu Shah who taught him diffraction theory. Ramakrishnan said: I perhaps did not appreciate it as much as I should have,but the diffraction theory she taught as part of the optics course is the basis of my work using x-ray crystallography to determine structures. Shah,a retired professor of physics,said: I was very new to the university when I joined in 1969 and I took up their class mid-way through the session after a senior professor had retired. I have a faint memory of him,but it is an honour that he still remembers those lectures. The Nobel Laureate also mentioned his mathematics professor Prof Manerikar,and N P Salvi who taught him organic chemistry. MSU Vice-Chancellor Prof Ramesh Goyal said: Many people after becoming a teacher feel that teaching is the only job. They give less importance to research. But teaching without research is incomplete. Remembering these five teachers with their name is in itself a proof of the impact these teachers had on Venkatraman. This was possible only because of the depth these teachers had in their subjects. The vice-chancellor added that the university is working towards including a new course on cellular microbiology. The process had started a few months ago and we are sure that the permission will be granted to us. We will be happy to confer an honorary degree to Venkatraman, said Prof Goyal.
