The second annual Science@Rhodes event celebrated the scientific history of Rhodes House and its enduring role as a convening place of people, perspectives, and ideas.
More than 130 guests, including Rhodes Scholars in Residence and Alumni, Schmidt Science Fellows, and research leaders, attended the evening, where Nobel laureate Dr Venki Ramakrishnan gave the 2026 Einstein Commemorative lecture.
Dr Ramakrishnan spoke of his own interdisciplinary scientific journey, the work that would lead to the Nobel Prize, and how his curiosity had taken him across the world in pursuit of discovery. Reflecting on his career, he spoke of the figures who had inspired and mentored him, and imparted his own advice to those embarking on their own scientific journeys.
He said patience, perseverance, and luck were all factors alongside skill, as was the humility to ask for help, the ability to talk and exchange ideas, and the determination to follow your own path. “If I don’t know something, I just ask people. People have been helpful with advice, with reagents, all kinds of things,” he said. “Some of the ideas for how to do the [ribosome] structure came out of random conversations.” He added: “But you can't talk to people all the time because then you'll be totally influenced by what's fashionable. You have to do what's interesting to you, not be too swayed.”
Dr Ramakrishnan’ss pioneering interdisciplinary work led to the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of the structure and function of the ribosome. The ribosome translates DNA information into life, producing the proteins that control the chemistry in all living organisms. The work has wide-ranging impacts, including in the production of antibiotics.
Welcoming guests, Rhodes House Provost Sir Rick Trainor said the annual event was an auspicious evening in the Rhodes calendar, marking the lectures that Albert Einstein gave in the House nearly a century ago. “We are also celebrating the broader enduring role of Rhodes House in bringing together people, perspectives, and ideas,” he added. That spirit of fellowship is a foundation of the Rhodes tradition and indeed also of the Schmidt Science Fellows and the wider Rhodes family.”
On May 9, 1931, Albert Einstein visited Rhodes House and delivered the first of his three Rhodes Memorial Lectures. A blackboard he used as part of the lectures is now housed at Oxford’s History of Science Museum.
The Science@Rhodes and the Einstein Commemorative Lecture are organised by Schmidt Science Fellows to commemorate that series of lectures and to recognise the wider role of science within Rhodes House. It is also part of the Rhodes Trust's Network for Good, bringing its communities and Fellowships together to support positive change in the world.
Dr Ramakrishnan was introduced by Schmidt Science Fellows Founding Executive Director Dr Megan Kenna. She said he was an inspirational scientist who had built a career following important questions, even when answering them meant learning new tools or moving to entirely different disciplines. Dr Kenna added: “He started in physics, moved into biology, and won a Nobel Prize in chemistry. Along the way, he learned X-ray crystallography because it could help him answer the questions he cared about. It became central to the ribosome research that earned him the Nobel Prize.”
She also thanked him for the support and advice he had given Schmidt Science Fellows on a visit to the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in 2019 when the program was in its early stages. She added his Nobel-winning discovery was a “beautiful metaphor” for the wider purpose of the Science@Rhodes event and the Network for Good.
Dr Kenna commented: “The ribosome is the machinery in our cells that reads genetic instructions and builds proteins. It is where information becomes action in the body, and I love that because it's a similar thing here. How do we put the knowledge in this room into action? How do we turn what we understand into something that actually helps people? How do we get information to action and ultimately impact?”
She encouraged gathered guests to share their own ideas and perspectives and use the evening to build new connections in the spirit of Fellowship. She added: “Years from now, I would love to discover that some wonderful collaboration or brilliant idea or just the confidence to try something new started here in this room tonight. That is how we will build this Network for Good. Through the things we will help one another make possible.”
