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Bangalore:
Six achievers in the field of mathematical sciences, physical
sciences, engineering and computer science, life sciences and
social sciences Monday won the Infosys Prize of Rs.5 million each
for their outstanding contribution to the field.
The winners are Chandrashekhar Khare of California University
mathematics department (mathematical science), Nandini Sundar of
Delhi School of Economics (social anthropology), Sandip Trivedi of
the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (physical sciences),
Ashutosh Sharma of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
(engineering and computer science), Amita Baviskar of the
Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi (sociology), and Chetan E.
Chitnis of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and
Biotechnology (ICGEB), Delhi (life sciences).
Announcing the prize winners, Infosys chairman and chief 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 recognize and acknowledge outstanding
work done by researchers, creating role models and thereby
encouraging the youth to pursue careers in scientific research,"
he told reporters here.
The prize is offered by the Infosys Science Foundation to
recognize outstanding contributions to scientific research that
have impacted India.
Besides Murthy, other trustees of the foundation include, K.
Dinesh and S. Gopalakrishnan, who are the co-founders along with
Murthy of Infosys, India's second largest IT company. They were
present at the press meet.
Gopalakrishnan is the present CEO of Infosys while Dinesh is head
of the Foundation.
"The winners of the Infosys Prize 2010 were chosen by jury panels
comprising eminent scientists and professors from across the
globe. In recognition of their outstanding contributions to
scientific research, the winners will receive a cash prize of
Rs.50 lakh, a citation certificate and a gold medallion," an
Infosys statement said.
The awards will be presented to the winners by Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh in Mumbai Jan 6, the statement said.
Applauding the winners, Dinesh, president of the Board of Trustees
of the Infosys Science Foundation, said: "Science like business,
is planned, executed, learnt and re-executed. Science has the
power to transform all impertinent questions to pertinent answers.
The Infosys Science Foundation is a step in that direction for
recognizing and rewarding world-class researchers."
The Infosys Prize was established as an annual prize across five
categories to reward and recognize outstanding inventions or
discovery or a cumulative body of work. It is amongst the largest
in terms of prize money for any such honour in India.
"The objective of this prize is to elevate the prestige of
scientific research in India and to inspire young Indians to
pursue a career in scientific research," the statement said.
The Infosys Science Foundation trust was set up by Infosys
Technologies in February 2009 to promote research in sciences in
India. The foundation has a corpus of Rs.45 crore contributed by
Infosys executive board members and an annual grant from Infosys
Technologies Ltd, India's second largest IT company.
At present the corpus stands at Rs.100 crore, the statement said.
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