Osteogenesis Imperfecta is a rare genetic defect in collagen, a protein that strengthens the bone. The poorly formed collagen in OI, causes the bones to break easily. The same disease can affect the teeth and cause the sclera to be blue.

Almost all doctors know about this disease or have at least heard of it. But most have never heard of the man who discovered the structure of collagen. The double helical structure of DNA and Watson & Crick are household names, while the triple helical structure and the man behind its discovery are obscure, even though he worked, right here in Chennai.

GN Ramachandran was born in Ernakulam in the Kingdom of Cochin in 1922 . His father was a Mathematics professor who shaped his son’s interest in the queen of sciences.But Ram, as he was known to his friends, had different plans. He completed BSc Physics(Honors) at the top of his class from St Joesph college, Trichy in Madras University in 1942.

After that he joined Masters in Electrical Engineering in Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. Fate intervened at this point – in the form of a man, no less than Sir CV Raman, who pulled Ramachandran back to the physics stream from Engineering. Sir CV Raman was a giant in physics, already with a Nobel prize in his kitty for discovering the Raman effect. With such an illustrious mentor, Ramachandran worked on optics and the X ray topography of diamonds, culminating in a DSc in physics in 1947.

Like most scientists of that era, Ramachandran went to Britain – and worked with Linus Pauling and Sir Lawrence Bragg, in the Cavendish lab in Cambridge. With a PhD from Cambridge and an interest in crystallography he came back to Bangalore.

At that time, Sir AL Mudaliar was searching for a suitable candidate to head the experimental physics division in Madras University. He invited Sir CV Raman, who graciously declined, but sent his protege, Dr GN Ramachandran, who became a professor of physics at the age of 29.

With his whole life ahead, GNR had trouble choosing suitable projects. He was toying with the idea of biopolymers and structure of biological macromolecules,and gravitated towards collagen. With his post-doc Gopinath Kartha, he discovered the triple helical strucutre of collagen, after years of painstaking work with stick and ball models.

He also developed the Ramachandran plot,a framework for understanding peptide structure. It was breakthrough, and Janet Thornton said, “It never fails to excite me, when I see the Ramachandran plot and realize how much of the beauty and order of protein structures is encapsulated by this plot. I also think that this major discovery highlights the importance of clear thought and vision that do not always need expensive equipment and huge teams of people”.The work he started with diamonds had taken him to bone proteins.

His contribution didn’t end there though. He went to the Biophysics department of University of Chicago, in 1970.During this visit,he devised a method to reconstruct 3D images from 2D data, which laid the foundations of computerized tomography -CT scan.

After returning, his health started failing. He developed Parkinson’s disease and was cared for by his wife Rajam. Her death, was a mortal blow to Dr Ramachandran, from which he never really recovered.

While he received numerous awards and accolades, for his work in the intersection of mathematics, physics and biology – few medical students have heard of him. After all doing great work and being forgotten, is the cliched curse of Indian scientists.

The next time, you look at a bone on a CT scan, remember the name GN Ramachandran.