KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysian scientist Ravigadevi Sambanthamurthi has made history as the first Malaysian to be inducted into the Royal Society, the United Kingdom’s esteemed national academy of sciences.
The Petaling Jaya-based scientific consultant with the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) is part of the Society’s latest cohort of global scientific pioneers, joining the ranks of legends such as Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Stephen Hawking, and Albert Einstein.
Born in Johor Bahru in 1955, Ravigadevi will celebrate her 70th birthday in London this July—just two days after officially signing the Royal Society’s historic Charter Book, which bears the signatures of scientific icons dating back more than three centuries.
“This is not a personal milestone alone,” she told Free Malaysia Today. “It’s a shared honour with the exceptional team I had the privilege of leading at MPOB. True scientific advancement rarely happens in isolation. Our achievements were the result of collaboration—with each other and with international partners—united by the goal of science serving humanity and the planet.”
The Royal Society described its latest inductees as leaders across disciplines such as artificial intelligence, global health, neuroscience, and electron microscopy. Among them is a Nobel laureate whose research group developed AlphaFold, the AI system that has revolutionised protein structure prediction.
Royal Society president Adrian Smith said the new members “represent the very best of scientific endeavour, from basic discovery to research with real-world impact across health, technology and policy.”
Ravigadevi earned her BSc in biochemistry and microbiology from Universiti Malaya in 1979 and went on to complete her PhD in biochemistry at University College London in 1983. She returned to contribute significantly to Malaysian science through her work at MPOB, where she led pioneering research in biotechnology and palm oil innovation.
She currently serves as the head of biological, agricultural and environmental sciences at the Academy of Sciences Malaysia and sits on the board of trustees of the Malaysian Invention and Design Foundation, among other roles.
Reflecting on her journey, Ravigadevi stressed that the recognition is a testament to Malaysia’s scientific potential.
“I hope this achievement will inspire more young Malaysians—especially women—to see science not just as a career path, but as a calling to improve lives, protect our environment, and contribute to global knowledge,” she said.
