SFI's 30th Annual Stanisław Ulam Lecture Series: Venki Ramakrishnan Community Lecture + Online
Schedule
Mon, 25 Aug, 2025 at 07:30 pm to Tue, 26 Aug, 2025 at 09:00 pm
UTC-06:00Location
Lensic Performing Arts Center | Santa Fe, NM
Advertisement
SFI’s Annual Stanislaw Ulam Lecture Series brings a distinguished scientist to Santa Fe each year to deliver a series of public talks on cutting-edge topics, in honor of the late theoretical mathematician Stanislaw Ulam. Ulam was a renowned mathematician long associated with Los Alamos National Laboratory. Former SFI Vice President Mike Simmons said, “The enormous range of Ulam’s scientific thought encompassed not only mathematics but also physics, computation, biology, and much else. He would have been very much at home in the present-day Santa Fe Institute, which was founded in the year of his death.”This year’s Ulam Lecture Series features SFI Fractal Faculty Professor, former President of the Royal Society, and Nobel Laureate Venki Ramakrishnan, who will deliver two lectures spanning his career in structural biology and molecular visualization.
---
Monday, August 25 - 7:30pm
"My Adventures in the Ribosome: The Cellular Machine that Reads our Genes"
Ramakrishnan will provide a history of molecular visualization, as well as take us through his work at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England, where his team determined the atomic structure of the 30S ribosomal subunit (work for which he was awarded a Nobel prize in chemistry) and its complexes with ligands and antibiotics. He will talk about the ribosome and how his team learned about its structure. He will also share some recent developments, including the use of cryoEM to determine the structure of biological molecules at near-atomic resolution.
Tuesday, August 26 - 7:30pm (Book Signing: 6:30pm)
"Why We Die: The New Science of Aging and the Quest for Immortality"
In this lecture, Ramakrishnan will discuss key findings about why and how we age and die and prospects for the future. He will also explore the possible consequences of societies with extremely long-lived populations. Ramakrishnan will be on hand to sign copies of his 2024 book of the same title at 6:30 pm in the Lensic Lobby.
---
The 2025 Santa Fe Institute Community Lecture Series is free to attend thanks to generous sponsorship from the McKinnon Family Foundation with additional support provided by The Lensic Performing Arts Center and the Santa Fe Reporter.
• Read more: https://www.santafe.edu/events/venki-ramakrishnan-community-lecture
• A limited number of in-person seats will be available for free. Claim yours: https://lensic.org/events/30th-ulam-lecture-series/
• Streaming worldwide on our YouTube channel. Watch live and subscribe: http://www.youtube.com/@SFIScience
Advertisement
Where is it happening?
Lensic Performing Arts Center, 31 Burro Alley St, Santa Fe, NM 87501-2102, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
