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Bangalore: Former
president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Monday awarded six distinguished
scientists with the Infosys Prize 2011, instituted by the Infosys
Science Foundation, a not-for-profit trust set up by India's IT
bellwether.
The winners are Kanpur Genetic Algorithms Laboratory director
Kalyanmoy Deb in engineering and computer science, Centre for
Cellular and Molecular Biology scientist Imran Siddiqi in life
sciences, Stanford University professor Kannan Soundararajan in
mathematical sciences and Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
physics professor Sriram Ramaswamy in physical sciences.
University of Chicago professor Raghuram G. Rajan and Centre for
Policy Research chief executive Pratap Bhanu Mehta were awarded in
Social Sciences (Economics and Political Science and International
Relations respectively).
In recognition of their outstanding achievements and contributions
in scientific field and social arena, Kalam honoured each of the
winners with a prize money of Rs.50 lakh ($100,000), a 22-karat
gold medallion and a citation expounding the Infosys laureate's
work.
The noted scientists were selected by the Foundation trustees and
the eminent jury panels comprising Nobel laureate Amartya Sen for
Social Sciences, Shrinivas Kulkarni (physical sciences), Pradeep
K. Khosla (engineering and computer science), S.R. Varadhan
(mathematical sciences) and Inder Verma (life sciences).
The Foundation is funded by a corpus of Rs.100 crore (Rs.10
billion), contributed by the trustees and an annual grant from the
global software major.
The Infosys Prize is amongst the highest in terms of money given
for any award in India.
Trust president and the company's former director T.V. Mohandas
Pai also announced on the occasion that the Foundation would
introduce a prize for Humanities from this year (2012) covering
philosophy, history, archaeology, linguistics and literary
studies.
Congratulating the winners, Kalam said the awards celebrate the
success of researchers, their research work and their teachers
from school to university.
"We live in a knowledge-based era and a nation's strength is truly
judged by the quality of collective knowledge. It is important to
recognise and encourage productive academic pursuits. Initiatives
like Infosys Prize will boost the confidence of researchers in
physical, biological and social sciences and related fields," he
said after presenting the awards.
Lauding the winners for world-class contributions in their
respective areas of specialisation, Infosys chairman emeritus N.R.
Narayana Murthy said the prestigious prize for the third year was
a commitment to encourage the distinguished scientists at a time
when it could make a greater difference to their career and
attract young minds to research.
"The winners' effort and dedication to science, discovery and
development will inspire educationists and researchers in India
and the world over to strive harder to excel in science and
technology and attain global recognition," he said on the
occasion.
In his address on the occasion, Pai said scientific research was
the bedrock of social and technological progress of any economy
and the awards were not only intended to recognise outstanding
scientists, but also to motivate the research community and
persuade bright young people to adopt careers in research.
"There is a significant depth of scientific talent in the country
and the objective of the Infosys Prize is to identify and
encourage such outstanding talent," Pai added.
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