Gopalasamudram Narayana Iyer Ramachandran
Encyclopedia
Gopalasamudram Narayana Iyer Ramachandran, or G.N. Ramachandran, (8 October 1922 – 7 April 2001) was a prominent Indian scientist, best known for his work that led to his creation of the Ramachandran plot
for understanding peptide
structure. He was the first to propose a triple-helical model for the structure of collagen
. He also made other major contributions in biology
and physics
.
, Kerala
, India
in the village of Moses De Khan in a Tamil Family. Gopalasamudram, the native place of his family, is a village in the old Tirunelveli
District of Madras Presidency. He joined the Indian Institute of Science
, Bangalore
in 1942 in the Electrical Engineering Department. Quickly realizing his interest in physics, he switched to the Department of Physics to complete his master's and doctoral thesis under the supervision of Nobel laureate Sir C. V. Raman
. In 1942, he received a master's degree in physics
from Madras University with his thesis submmited from Bangalore (he did not attend any Madras college at that time). He subsequently received his D.Sc. degree in 1947. Here he mostly studied crystal physics
and crystal optics
. During his studies he created an X-ray focusing mirror for the X-ray microscope
. The resulting field of crystal topography is used extensively in studies involving crystal growth
and solid-state
reactivity.
Ramachandran then spent two years (1947–1949) at the Cavendish Laboratory
in Cambridge
, where he earned his Ph.D.
for 'studies on X-ray diffuse scattering
and its application to determination of elastic constants' under the direction of Professor William Alfred Wooster, popularly known as W.A. Wooster, a leading crystallography expert in the world.
, Bangalore
, India
in 1949 as an assistant professor of physics. In 1952, he moved to Madras University as professor and head of the Department of Physics where he continued his work on crystal physics. His interest, however, shifted to the structure of biological macromolecules. Using X-ray diffraction Ramachandran along with Gopinath Kartha
proposed and published the triple helical structure
of collagen
in 1954. At Madras University, Professor Ramachandran was the favorite of the famous vice-chancellor and celebrated doctor and medical scientist, Sir Arcot Laksmanaswamy Mudaliar. Wanting to tackle problems at a more fundamental level, Ramachandran decided to use this information to examine the various polypeptide conformations then known and also to develop a good 'yardstick' that could be used for examining and assessing any structure in general, but peptides in particular. The result which emerged from these calculations in 1962, - now commonly known as the Ramachandran plot
- was published in the Journal of Molecular Biology
in 1963 and has become an essential tool in the field of protein
conformation. When it was first calculated, crystal structures had barely been obtained for any protein. From the mid 1960s onward, Ramachandran studied many topics relating to the conformation of peptides including
types of β-turns, conformation of prolyl residues, cis-peptide units, occurrence and need for non-planarity of the peptides, NMR
coupling constant
s, peptides
containing L and D residues
and many others.
Ramachandran can be credited for bringing together into the one field of molecular biophysics
the then disparate fields of X-ray crystallography
, peptide synthesis
, NMR and other optical studies, and physico-chemical experimentation.
In 1970, he founded the Molecular Biophysics Unit at the Indian Institute of Science
which was later known as the Centre of Advanced Study in Biophysics. In 1971, he moved to Bangalore owing to the deterioration in standards of the University of Madras after the long-term of Sir Arcot Lakshmanaswamy Mudaliar as the vice-chancellor. The general complaint was that the successor N.D. Sundaravadvelu could not sustain the acdemic standards of Sir A.L. Mudaliar.
Ramachandran and A.V. Lakshminarayana developed convolution-backprojection algorithms which greatly improved the quality and practicality of results obtainable by x-ray tomography. Compared to previously used methods, their algorithms considerably reduced computer processing time for image reconstruction, as well as providing more numerically accurate images. As a result, commercial manufacturers of x-ray tomographic scanners started building systems capable of reconstructing high resolution images that were almost photographically perfect. In 1971, they published their research in a paper (“Three dimensional reconstructions from radiographs and electron micrographs: Application of convolution instead of Fourier Transforms,” Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., vol. 68, pp. 2236–2240, 1971).
Notable awards that Ramachandran received include the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award
for Physics in India (1961) and the Fellowship of the Royal Society
of London. In 1999,
the International Union of Crystallography
honored him with the Ewald Prize for his 'outstanding contributions to crystallography'.
and was affected by Parkinson's disease
. Ramachandran died in 2001 at age 78, and left behind him a legacy of scientific discoveries. Leading scientists including Professor Linus Pauling
and Professor Francis Crick
regarded Professor Ramchandran as a Nobel Prize caliber scientist of great reputation.
Ramachandran plot
-Introduction and early history:A Ramachandran plot , originally developed in 1963 by G. N. Ramachandran C. Ramakrishnan and V...
for understanding peptide
Peptide
Peptides are short polymers of amino acid monomers linked by peptide bonds. They are distinguished from proteins on the basis of size, typically containing less than 50 monomer units. The shortest peptides are dipeptides, consisting of two amino acids joined by a single peptide bond...
structure. He was the first to propose a triple-helical model for the structure of collagen
Collagen
Collagen is a group of naturally occurring proteins found in animals, especially in the flesh and connective tissues of mammals. It is the main component of connective tissue, and is the most abundant protein in mammals, making up about 25% to 35% of the whole-body protein content...
. He also made other major contributions in biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
and physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
.
Education
Ramachandran was born in the town of ErnakulamErnakulam
Ernakulam refers to the downtown area or the western part of the mainland of Kochi city in Kerala, India. The city is the most urban part of Kochi and has lent its name to the Ernakulam district. Ernakulam is called the commercial capital of the state of Kerala and is a main nerve of business in...
, Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
in the village of Moses De Khan in a Tamil Family. Gopalasamudram, the native place of his family, is a village in the old Tirunelveli
Tirunelveli
Tirunelveli , also known as Nellai , and historically as Tinnevelly, is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the headquarters of the Tirunelveli District and the sixth biggest city in Tamil Nadu...
District of Madras Presidency. He joined the Indian Institute of Science
Indian Institute of Science
Indian Institute of Science is a research institution of higher learning located in Bangalore, India. It was established in 1909.-History:After a chance meeting between Jamsetji N...
, Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
in 1942 in the Electrical Engineering Department. Quickly realizing his interest in physics, he switched to the Department of Physics to complete his master's and doctoral thesis under the supervision of Nobel laureate Sir C. V. Raman
Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman
Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, FRS was an Indian physicist whose work was influential in the growth of science in the world. He was the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1930 for the discovery that when light traverses a transparent material, some of the light that is deflected...
. In 1942, he received a master's degree in physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
from Madras University with his thesis submmited from Bangalore (he did not attend any Madras college at that time). He subsequently received his D.Sc. degree in 1947. Here he mostly studied crystal physics
Crystallography
Crystallography is the experimental science of the arrangement of atoms in solids. The word "crystallography" derives from the Greek words crystallon = cold drop / frozen drop, with its meaning extending to all solids with some degree of transparency, and grapho = write.Before the development of...
and crystal optics
Crystal optics
Crystal optics is the branch of optics that describes the behaviour of light in anisotropic media, that is, media in which light behaves differently depending on which direction the light is propagating. The index of refraction depends on both composition and crystal structure and can be...
. During his studies he created an X-ray focusing mirror for the X-ray microscope
X-ray microscope
An X-ray microscope uses electromagnetic radiation in the soft X-ray band to produce images of very small objects.Unlike visible light, X-rays do not reflect or refract easily, and they are invisible to the human eye. Therefore the basic process of an X-ray microscope is to expose film or use a...
. The resulting field of crystal topography is used extensively in studies involving crystal growth
Crystal growth
A crystal is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. Crystal growth is a major stage of a crystallization process, and consists in the addition of new atoms, ions, or polymer strings into...
and solid-state
Solid-state physics
Solid-state physics is the study of rigid matter, or solids, through methods such as quantum mechanics, crystallography, electromagnetism, and metallurgy. It is the largest branch of condensed matter physics. Solid-state physics studies how the large-scale properties of solid materials result from...
reactivity.
Ramachandran then spent two years (1947–1949) at the Cavendish Laboratory
Cavendish Laboratory
The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the university's School of Physical Sciences. It was opened in 1874 as a teaching laboratory....
in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, where he earned his Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
for 'studies on X-ray diffuse scattering
X-ray crystallography
X-ray crystallography is a method of determining the arrangement of atoms within a crystal, in which a beam of X-rays strikes a crystal and causes the beam of light to spread into many specific directions. From the angles and intensities of these diffracted beams, a crystallographer can produce a...
and its application to determination of elastic constants' under the direction of Professor William Alfred Wooster, popularly known as W.A. Wooster, a leading crystallography expert in the world.
Research
After completing his Ph.D, he returned to the Indian Institute of ScienceIndian Institute of Science
Indian Institute of Science is a research institution of higher learning located in Bangalore, India. It was established in 1909.-History:After a chance meeting between Jamsetji N...
, Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
in 1949 as an assistant professor of physics. In 1952, he moved to Madras University as professor and head of the Department of Physics where he continued his work on crystal physics. His interest, however, shifted to the structure of biological macromolecules. Using X-ray diffraction Ramachandran along with Gopinath Kartha
Gopinath Kartha
Gopinath Kartha was a prominent crystallographer of Indian origin. He is notably known for the determination of the molecular structure of the enzyme ribonuclease in 1967. This was the first protein structure elucidated and published in the United States.Gopinath Kartha was born in Cherthala, near...
proposed and published the triple helical structure
Helix
A helix is a type of smooth space curve, i.e. a curve in three-dimensional space. It has the property that the tangent line at any point makes a constant angle with a fixed line called the axis. Examples of helixes are coil springs and the handrails of spiral staircases. A "filled-in" helix – for...
of collagen
Collagen
Collagen is a group of naturally occurring proteins found in animals, especially in the flesh and connective tissues of mammals. It is the main component of connective tissue, and is the most abundant protein in mammals, making up about 25% to 35% of the whole-body protein content...
in 1954. At Madras University, Professor Ramachandran was the favorite of the famous vice-chancellor and celebrated doctor and medical scientist, Sir Arcot Laksmanaswamy Mudaliar. Wanting to tackle problems at a more fundamental level, Ramachandran decided to use this information to examine the various polypeptide conformations then known and also to develop a good 'yardstick' that could be used for examining and assessing any structure in general, but peptides in particular. The result which emerged from these calculations in 1962, - now commonly known as the Ramachandran plot
Ramachandran plot
-Introduction and early history:A Ramachandran plot , originally developed in 1963 by G. N. Ramachandran C. Ramakrishnan and V...
- was published in the Journal of Molecular Biology
Journal of Molecular Biology
The Journal of Molecular Biology is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published weekly by Elsevier. It covers original scientific research concerning studies of organisms or their components at the molecular level.- Notable articles :...
in 1963 and has become an essential tool in the field of protein
Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
conformation. When it was first calculated, crystal structures had barely been obtained for any protein. From the mid 1960s onward, Ramachandran studied many topics relating to the conformation of peptides including
types of β-turns, conformation of prolyl residues, cis-peptide units, occurrence and need for non-planarity of the peptides, NMR
Nuclear magnetic resonance
Nuclear magnetic resonance is a physical phenomenon in which magnetic nuclei in a magnetic field absorb and re-emit electromagnetic radiation...
coupling constant
Coupling constant
In physics, a coupling constant, usually denoted g, is a number that determines the strength of an interaction. Usually the Lagrangian or the Hamiltonian of a system can be separated into a kinetic part and an interaction part...
s, peptides
containing L and D residues
Amino acid
Amino acids are molecules containing an amine group, a carboxylic acid group and a side-chain that varies between different amino acids. The key elements of an amino acid are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen...
and many others.
Ramachandran can be credited for bringing together into the one field of molecular biophysics
Molecular biophysics
Molecular biophysics is a rapidly evolving interdisciplinary area of research that combines concepts in physics, chemistry, engineering, mathematics and biology...
the then disparate fields of X-ray crystallography
X-ray crystallography
X-ray crystallography is a method of determining the arrangement of atoms within a crystal, in which a beam of X-rays strikes a crystal and causes the beam of light to spread into many specific directions. From the angles and intensities of these diffracted beams, a crystallographer can produce a...
, peptide synthesis
Peptide synthesis
In organic chemistry, peptide synthesis is the production of peptides, which are organic compounds in which multiple amino acids are linked via amide bonds which are also known as peptide bonds...
, NMR and other optical studies, and physico-chemical experimentation.
In 1970, he founded the Molecular Biophysics Unit at the Indian Institute of Science
Indian Institute of Science
Indian Institute of Science is a research institution of higher learning located in Bangalore, India. It was established in 1909.-History:After a chance meeting between Jamsetji N...
which was later known as the Centre of Advanced Study in Biophysics. In 1971, he moved to Bangalore owing to the deterioration in standards of the University of Madras after the long-term of Sir Arcot Lakshmanaswamy Mudaliar as the vice-chancellor. The general complaint was that the successor N.D. Sundaravadvelu could not sustain the acdemic standards of Sir A.L. Mudaliar.
Ramachandran and A.V. Lakshminarayana developed convolution-backprojection algorithms which greatly improved the quality and practicality of results obtainable by x-ray tomography. Compared to previously used methods, their algorithms considerably reduced computer processing time for image reconstruction, as well as providing more numerically accurate images. As a result, commercial manufacturers of x-ray tomographic scanners started building systems capable of reconstructing high resolution images that were almost photographically perfect. In 1971, they published their research in a paper (“Three dimensional reconstructions from radiographs and electron micrographs: Application of convolution instead of Fourier Transforms,” Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., vol. 68, pp. 2236–2240, 1971).
Notable awards that Ramachandran received include the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award
Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award
The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology is awarded annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research for notable and outstanding research, applied or fundamental, in biology, chemistry, environmental science, engineering, mathematics, medicine and Physics...
for Physics in India (1961) and the Fellowship of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
of London. In 1999,
the International Union of Crystallography
International Union of Crystallography
The International Union of Crystallography is a member of the International Council for Science and exists to serve the world community of crystallographers....
honored him with the Ewald Prize for his 'outstanding contributions to crystallography'.
Later years
Ramachandran was devastated by the death of his wife Rajalakshmi in 1998, and a gradual deterioration in health occurred. During the last few years of his life he suffered a strokeStroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
and was affected by Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
. Ramachandran died in 2001 at age 78, and left behind him a legacy of scientific discoveries. Leading scientists including Professor Linus Pauling
Linus Pauling
Linus Carl Pauling was an American chemist, biochemist, peace activist, author, and educator. He was one of the most influential chemists in history and ranks among the most important scientists of the 20th century...
and Professor Francis Crick
Francis Crick
Francis Harry Compton Crick OM FRS was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist, and most noted for being one of two co-discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953, together with James D. Watson...
regarded Professor Ramchandran as a Nobel Prize caliber scientist of great reputation.