‘Test-tube babies in ancient India a nonsense claim’
MUMBAI: Nobel laureate Richard John Roberts, who was in the city on Friday, said claims made at the recent Indian Science Congress that test-tube babies existed in ancient India were “nonsense”.
Roberts was awarded the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Phillip Allen Sharp for the discovery of introns in eukaryotic DNA and the mechanism of gene-splicing. Speaking on the sidelines of the University of Mumbai’s (MU) annual convocation, Roberts spoke out against the prevalence of “pseudo-science” in India, and termed the country’s space missions “vanity projects”. “People [who peddle unscientific claims in the name of science] need to be called out. Usually, they do it for money, while others do it for power,” said Roberts, who is the chief scientific officer, New England Biolabs in the United States.
During the 106th Indian Science Congress held earlier this month, Andhra University vicechancellor G Nageshwar Rao had said that mythological characters Kauravas were born as a result of stem cell and test tube technologies. He claimed that India possessed knowledge about guided missiles and aircraft thousands of years ago.
The Nobel laureate said science needs to be separated from religion and faith. “Science is science. It doesn’t matter who contributes to it, as long as their work is published and peer-reviewed,” he said.
Roberts also said that India should discontinue its space programmes. “If you have money, do it. Otherwise, don’t do it,” he said. While pushing for fundamental scientific research, he said, “How do you measure the results of research? You will have to evaluate it over a long period of time. The first application of my discovery, which was made 40 years ago, was developed in November 2017. Meanwhile, we learnt a great deal. There are so many benefits of basic research.”