Kofi Annan presents Infosys Science prizes to 7 winners

Kofi Annan and N R Narayana Murthy pose with Infosys Prize 2013 awardees at the presentation ceremony in Bangalore Saturday. (PTI)

Former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan on Saturday presented the Infosys Science Prizes for the year 2013 to seven winners at an awards ceremony in Bangalore.

The laureates are: Ramgopal Rao, nanoelectronics professor at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai, in engineering and computer science; Rajesh Gokhale, director of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi, in life sciences; Rahul Pandharipande, mathematics professor at Eidgenussiche Technische Hochschule, Zurich (Switzerland), in mathematical sciences; Shiraz Naval Minwalla, theoretical physics professor at Tata Institute of Fundamental (TIFR), Mumbai, in physical sciences and Aninhalli R Vasavi, senior fellow at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi, in social sciences, Nayanjot Lahiri, history professor in University of Delhi and Ayesha Kidwai, professor in linguistics in JNU, New Delhi, in humanities.
An eminent jury, comprising Amartya Sen, Kaushik Basu, Inder Verma, Pradeep K Khosla, Shrinivas Kulkarni and Srinivasa SR Varadhan, picked out the winners.

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The prize was instituted in 2009 to recognise extraordinary work in the field of sciences and humanities. The purse has been increased to Rs 55 lakh from Rs 50 lakh this year. Besides this, every winner also received a gold medallion and a citation.
“Science and research are imperative pillars in any nation’s progress…. Our prize aims to inspire young minds to explore sciences and increase innovative work being done in the country today,” NR Narayana Murthy said.