Front row (from left): T.V. Mohan Das Pai, K.Dinesh, S.D Shibulal, President Pranab Mukherjee, N.R. Narayan Murthy, Srinath Batni, Kris Gopalakrishnan and R. Seshasayee. Back row: Srinath Raghavan, Amit Sharma, Jonardon Ganeri, G.Ravindra Kumar, Mahan Mahara, and Umesh Waghmare at the Infosys Prizes distribution ceremony in New Delhi on Saturday.
New Delhi, Feb 13 (IANS) President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday felicitated six winners of Infosys Science Foundation Prizes 2015 for their outstanding contribution in their fields.
The winners are Umesh Waghmare in engineering and computer science category, Jonardon Ganeri for humanities, Amit Sharma in life sciences, Mahan Maharaj in mathematical sciences, G. Ravindra Kumar in physical sciences and Srinath Raghavan in social sciences.
Mukherjee awarded each laureate with a purse of Rs.65 lakh, a 22-carat gold medallion and a citation certificate, the foundation said in a statement here.
The winners were chosen by six jury chairs - Pradeep Khosla for engineering and computer science, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen (humanities), Inder Verma (life sciences), Srinivasa S.R. Varadhan (mathematical sciences), Shrinivas Kulkarni (physical sciences) and Kaushik Basu (social sciences).
Waghmare, professor of theoretical sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in Bengaluru was awarded for use of principles of theories and modelling in investigations of microscopic mechanism responsible for specific properties of materials.
Ganeri, global network professor of philosophy in New York University, was hnonoured for scholarship and originality in interpreting and scrutinising analytical Indian philosophy.
Sharma, head, structural and computational biology group, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi, was recognised for pioneering contributions towards deciphering the molecular structure at the atomic level of key proteins involved in the biology of pathogenesis of the malarial parasite.
Maharaj, professor of mathematics at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Mumbai, won the award for his contributions to geometric group theory, low-dimensional topology and complex geometry.
Kumar, senior professor of department of nuclear and atomic physics at TIFR, was recognised for pioneering experimental contributions to physics of high intensity laser matter interactions.
Raghavan, senior fellow at Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, won the award for research that synthesizes military history, international politics and strategic analysis into imaginative perspectives on India in the global context.
Eminent scientists and industry leaders and foundation trustees, including S.D. Shibulal, trustees board president N.R. Narayana Murthy, Mohandas Pai, Kris Gopalakrishnan, Srinath Batni, K. Dinesh and R. Seshasayee were present on the occasion.
