The year 2009 would be remembered by the people of India especially the scientific community for the remarkable achievement of the Indian-American Mr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan winning the Nobel prize for his pioneering studies on the structure and functioning of ribosome. Thus he joined the select band of Nobel laureates who have done India proud and his signal achievement is going to inspire millions of youths of India to excel at the highest level to win international acclaim and prestige by contributing significantly toward human development and progress. Recent report of a path-braking breakthrough achieved by another Indian Indian should engage our attention. Raja Agamuthu, a 29-year old young bright mind has played a key role in the serendipitous discovery of a molecule which can absorb carbon dioxide, one of the chief villains responsible for causing the phenomenon “Global Warming” which turning our world topsy turvy.

Angamuthu hails from Tamil Nadu received his education in his home state and studied chemistry at the Bharathidsan University before joining Leiden University in the Netherlands. The discovery was serendipitous because he and and his colleagues never set out to achieve it consciously. It came to light in the course of their study of biological molecules called enzymes when they chance upon a copper containing molecule which can remove carbon dioxide create useful by-products and return to its original state to repeat the same process. The existing techniques which are currently available to trap carbon dioxide the gushing emission of which which has robbed the sleep of many a nation , have not evolved into an acceptable one. And the finding of Angamuthu and his colleagues created a stir in the scientific world. Although many feel the technology may have to be fine-tuned through further research to bring down the cost of its application but its significance is not lost on the members of the international scient ific community who look upon it as a fundamental breakthrough.