‘India has talent to win Nobel, needs support from govt’

Kornberg said it is up to the government to give sufficient emphasis on research and appreciate its benefits to the country.

Nobel laureate Roger D Kornberg

Stressing on the need for more government investment in Science in India, Nobel Laureate Roger D Kornberg on Tuesday said that if India supports its scientists in a similar manner as that of the US and UK, the country can also win Nobel prizes.

“India has more talent. What is lacking is support and it must come from the government,” said Kornberg, who is in the city to attend the 5th Department of Science & Technology (DST) Internship Programme at Panjab University. “That isn’t an investment that is made in order to win a Nobel, it is an investment in the future of a country.”

Kornberg said it is up to the government to give sufficient emphasis on research and appreciate its benefits to the country. “There are many talented youngsters who have had opportunity but there is much room,” he said.

Calling US President Donald Trump “an unspeakable disaster,” the Nobel Prize winner lambasted him for his proposed cuts in the budget for research in health and energy. “He is disaster for India and every country because he is causing irreversible damage to the planet. He is creating or contributing to a problem which is equally harmful? for people everywhere on the planet,” Kornberg said. “It cannot be allowed to happen. I don’t think the United States Congress will agree to those cuts and if that were to occur they would be disastrous not only for medicine in America but health worldwide,” he added.

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