Talk:Venki Ramakrishnan

Citizenship

The Nobel site says Ramakrishnan is a UK citizen. Does he have dual American/British citizenship ? 161.24.19.112 (talk) 12:32, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

I saw "US citizen" on the Nobel site, and that's where the info in the article was taken from. It may be a simple mistake somewhere along the line: let's check to see what other sources say, the question should be cleared up pretty quickly. Physchim62 (talk) 12:45, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

NYT says that "Dr. Ramakrishnan was born in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India, in 1952 and obtained his Ph.D. at Ohio University, and holds American citizenship.". [1] Abecedare (talk) 12:56, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

I suggest that we cut all reference to his citizenship. It seems unclear for the moment (maybe it will be cleared up later) and, more importantly, it's irrelevant to his achievements. Per WP:BLP, we should be propagating personal information about living people that we're not sure about, especially when it's irrelevant to that person's notability. He was born in Tamil Nadu, India, that much everyone is clear about, let's just leave it at that for the moment. Physchim62 (talk) 14:16, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

I don't see why the US citizenship is controversial. It's stated plainly on the first line of his own CV and I have not seen any source that contradicts it. Has anyone else ? Abecedare (talk) 14:23, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

He is an American Citizen of Indian Origin. See what a big loss for India!! If India has truly allowed a Dual Citizenship, I am sure he would have taken it. And, we could have proudly said that he is an Indian Citizen. Now, every where his identity will be printed as American!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.4.32.207 (talk) 15:12, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

I agree with Abecedare (talk · contribs) here. For what it matters (which is little) he self-identifies as a U.S. citizen. Physchim62 (talk) 15:40, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

The source of the confusion is the following Nobel page, which implies he is a UK citizen. In any case, even if Ramakrishnan is a U.S citizen, I wouldn't describe him as an "Indian-American" since that term is normally reserved for people of Indian descent who were born in the United States. 200.168.20.127 (talk) 11:22, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

I agree. I've changed the description simply to "Indian" (as that's where he was born, and where his family originates from). The U.S. citizenship is still noted in the infobox, as that seems reasonably established now. I haven't seen any sources which say that he's a British citizen (as opposed to a British resident), so I suggest we leave things at that for the time being, unless anything new comes up. As I've said above, his passport is hardly the most notable feature about the subject! Physchim62 (talk) 11:33, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

Doesn't having the word 'Indian' in there imply Indian citizenship? --Srath12345 (talk) 11:45, 8 October 2009 (UTC)