Infosys recognizes India's 'science brains'

BANGALORE, INDIA: The Infosys Science Foundation today announced the winners of the Infosys Prize 2009, recognizing the contributions to scientific research in India. The winners were announced by the trustees of the Infosys Science Foundation at an event held at the Infosys campus in Bangalore today.

Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Human Resource Development was the chief guest of the program (via video conference).

The winners of the Infosys Prize 2009 are: Thanu Padmanabhan (Physical Science), Ashoke Sen (Mathematical Sciences), K. VijayRaghavan (Life Sciences), Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee and Upinder Singh (Social Sciences and Economics)

Thanu Padmanabhan of Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune got this in recognition of his contribution to a deeper understanding of Einstein’s theory of gravity in the context of thermo dynamics and large-scale structure in cosmology.

Ashoke Sen of Harish Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad, was honoured in recognition of his contributions to Mathematical Physics, in particular to string theory.

K. VijayRaghavan of National Centre of Biological Sciences, Bangalore won the prize for many of his contributions as a developmental geneticist and neurobiologist.

Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, got the honour for the contributions to the economic theory of development, and for his work in the empirical evaluation of public policy, while Upinder Singh of the University of Delhi got the award in recognition of her contributions as an outstanding historian of ancient and early medieval India.

No prize has been awarded for the Engineering Sciences discipline this year as the jury did not find a suitable candidate as per the statutes of the Infosys Prize.

The award ceremony for the Infosys Prize 2009 will be held on January 4, 2010, in New Delhi, where the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh will award the winners.

In his speech, Infosys mentor, N. R. Narayana Murthy, said, “Indian scientific talent has strong roots and is well respected the world over. The work done by the winners of the Infosys Prize for 2009 are clear examples of the world-class quality of scientific talent in this country. Research in the sciences is key to India’s development and progress, and we must find ways to recognize and reward relevant, leading research in India.”

Congratulating the winners of the Infosys Prize 2009 and addressing the audience, Kapil Sibal highlighted the need for industry and academia to collaborate in developing an environment that encourages and supports scientific research in India.

The Infosys Science Foundation was established in February 2009 to promote research in the natural and social sciences in India. The Infosys Prize is amongst the highest in terms of prize money for any award in India, and carries with it a cash award of Rs. 50 lakh, a citation and a medallion.

The Infosys Science Foundation is a not-for-profit trust set up by Infosys Technologies in February 2009 to promote research in sciences in India. The Infosys Science Foundation is funded by a corpus of Rs. 45 crore contributed by Infosys executive board members and an annual grant from Infosys Technologies Ltd.