“World Needs Places like Kerala”: Nobel Laureate Michael Levitt

KOCHI:
“Kerala is a special and different place and is trying to deal the problems in a way to show the world has to go for it; world needs places like Kerala”, said Nobel Laureate Michael Levitt at CUSAT.

He was interacting with Science community in CUSAT and nearby colleges at a session organized as part of the inaugural function of Prof. N.R. Madhava Menon Interdisciplinary Center for Research Ethics and Protocols.

“During my life I got a chance to interact with many giants like Francis Crick, John Kendrew, Max Perutz and they inspired me a lot in the research related to molecular biology. Nobel Laureate John Kendrew’s television series on B.B.C was a great inspiration and later Kendrew sent me to Israel in the year 1957. At that time collecting data was a tough job but the contemporary world is equipped with internet and computer which made research easier”, he added.

“Evolution teaches us that higher organisms mix mothers and fathers genes randomly and lead to diverse
offspring that are different from their parents and one another. The fittest always survive if the future is like the past. The future is unpredictable and the most diverse species have more chance to survive”, Prof. Levitt said.

“Society is better when there are lives of decency for everyone, where no hunger, no poverty and availability of opportunities. We cannot make people identical as we need diversity for a long term survival. Life is not fare. All measures have a distribution. Some individuals are lucky and others are not. There is no natural law of equality. Each individual matter is a pure chance and we do not choose who we are”, he mentioned.

Vice Chancellor Dr. K.N. Madhusoodanan presided over the meeting. Pro-Vice Chancellor Dr P.G. Sankaran, Registrar Dr. K. Ajitha, School of Legal Studies Head Dr A Vani Kesari, Applied Chemistry Department Head and Science Faculty Dean Dr. K. Girish Kumar spoke.