Venkatraman “Venky” Ramakrishnan is an American and British biochemist, winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with Thomas Steitz and Ada Yonath “for their studies of the structure and function of the ribosome.” Since 2015, President of the Royal Society, member of the US National Academy of Sciences. Everyone knows about DNA, the molecule that stores our genes. But DNA is useless without the ribosome, a unique processor that deciphers the genetic code. It is the ribosome that is the engine of life. "Genetic detective. From Research on the Ribosome to a Nobel Prize" is the fascinating story of the discovery of its incredibly complex structure and the solution to the ancient mystery of life.