Infosys honours six eminent Indian researchers

Infosys today honoured six eminent Indian researchers for exemplary research in the areas of mathematics, physical sciences, engineering and computational science, life sciences, social sciences and social anthropology.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave away the Infosys Prize 2010 awards to the six winners, Chandrashekhar Khare, Sandip Trivedi, Ashutosh Sharma, Dr Chetan E Chitnis, Amita Baviskar and Nandini Sundar at a ceremony held in Mumbai today.

Congratulating the award winners for their highly impressive achievements and individual contribution to the cause of knowledge, the prime minister said: "You are an extraordinarily talented lot. Your accomplishments speak for themselves.

I wish you well in your work in years to come. May God bless you with even higher attainments in years to come. And may you continue to be a source of inspiration to others."

He also complimented Infosys and the Infosys Science Foundation for instituting these awards, and for inviting such a distinguished jury to select the winners.

The awards carry Rs50 lakh each in cash, a citation and a gold medallion.

Professor Chandrashekhar Khare of the Department of Mathematics of the University of California, Los Angeles won the Infosys Prize 2010 for Mathematical Sciences.

Professor Sandip Trivedi of the Department of Theoretical Physics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai won the Infosys Prize 2010 for Physical Sciences.

Professor Ashutosh Sharma of the Department of Chemical Engineering of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur won the Infosys Prize 2010 for Engineering and Computer Science.

Dr Chetan E Chitnis, Principal Leader, Malaria Group at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), Delhi won the Infosys Prize 2010 for Life Sciences.

Professor Amita Baviskar of the Sociology Unit at the Institute of Economic Growth (IEG), Delhi won the Infosys Prize 2010 for Social Sciences (Sociology).

Professor Nandini Sundar of the Department of Sociology of the Delhi School of Economics (DSE), Delhi won the Infosys Prize 2010 for Social Anthropology.

Speaking at the event, Infosys founder-mentor N R Narayana Murthy said, "Scientific research is the key to sustaining India's growth, and it is critical for India to ensure that research remains an attractive profession for the nation's finest minds. The Infosys Prize aims to recognise and acknowledge outstanding work done by researchers, creating role models and thereby encouraging the youth to pursue careers in scientific research."

K Dinesh, president of the board of trustees of the Infosys Science Foundation congratulated the winners for their research achievements.

"Science like business, is planned, executed, learnt and re-executed. Science has the power to transform all impertinent questions to pertinent answers. Progress towards development needs a balanced view of science and social sciences to alleviate human misery. The Infosys Science Foundation is a step in that direction for recognising and rewarding world-class researchers," he said.

The Infosys Prize was established as an annual prize across five categories to reward and recognize outstanding inventions or discovery or accumulated work over a period. It is amongst the largest in terms of prize money for any such honor in India, carrying a cash award of 50 lakh, a citation certificate and a gold medallion.

The Infosys Science Foundation was established with a corpus of 45 crore contributed by Infosys executive board members and an annual grant from Infosys Technologies Ltd. Today the corpus stands at 100 crore. The jury panel for each category consists of eminent international personalities in each area selected by the trustees of the foundation.