RAMALINGASWAMI VULIMIRI: (1921-2001)

RAMALINGASWAMI VULIMIRI: (1921-2001) Indian medical scientist and pathologist. T.L.S., V. Ramalingaswami, two pages (separate leaves), 4to, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi, 31st March 1976, to Henri Corbiere, on the printed stationery of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. Ramalingaswami thanks his correspondent for their kind letter and the questions he has posed, remarking that the list of names he quoted is very imposing ('I doubt if I come in that category') and continuing to provide his candid answers, in part, 'Question: Was your scientific 'debut' easy or difficult? Answer: I cannot polarise it into one or the other category. It involved working long hours with ups and downs but which were enjoyable on the whole. Question: Did means of living enable you to make yourself known in science? Answer: No. My means are insignificant.....My grandfather was headmaster of a high school; he used to teach English grammar and influenced me in my formative period. My father had no position of consequence. Question: What work (or what discovery) made yourself more famous? Answer: If I am known at all, it is for my work in the field of nutritional disorders. I regard my work on the production of Protein-Calorie Malnutrition (Kwashiorkor) Syndrome in non-human primates and the elucidation of the pathobiology of this syndrome in experimental animals as the most significant........Question: What is your "maxim of life" (or motto)? Answer: To put everything I have into anything I am doing. To work on problems that are important for human health and wellbeing. I take delight in teaching, communicating with others to lead a life that is creative and artistic, tinged with humanism'. A couple of small staple holes to the upper left corner of each page, and with some slight traces of former mounting to the verso of the second page, VG