Ex-IISc head Padmanabhan, Chandrayaan-3 team among first Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar awardees

The award ceremony will be held at Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre on August 23, the first National Space Day.

Written by Anjali Marar

Bengaluru | Updated: August 8, 2024 03:55 AM IST

2 min read

Scientists from IIT Bombay, indian express

(From left to right) Rohit Srivastava, Purabi Saikia, Bappi Paul and Vivek Polshettiwar. (Express Photo)

Former director of Indian Institute of Science G Padmanabhan, the team behind Chandrayaan-3, and Annapurni Subramaniam, director of Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Astrophysics, along with 30 others, have been selected for the inaugural Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar (RVP), the new set of national science awards that were finalised last year.

The RVP comprises four awards — Vigyan Ratna for lifetime achievement, Vigyan Shri for scientists of all ages, Vigyan Yuva for scientists under 45 years and Vigyan Team for collaborative research work. These new sets of awards were instituted last year after disbanding all existing science awards, including the coveted Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize. Vigyan Yuva is a replacement for Bhatnagar Prize, which too used to be given to outstanding scientists below 45 years.

Padmanabhan (86), a celebrated biochemist known for his work on the malaria parasite, has been named a Vigyan Ratna, which recognises the lifetime achievement of the scientist. A towering figure in Indian science, he has been honoured with the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan.

The Chandrayaan-3 team, which landed India’s first spacecraft on the Moon last year, has got the Vigyan Team award.

The scientists chosen for the Vigyan Yuva Puraskar include Vivek Polshettiwar of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, a chemist who works on carbon capture technologies; Urbasi Sinha of Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru, a leading expert in quantum research; and Roxy Mathew Koll of Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune, a climate scientist.

Annapurni Subramaniam is among the 13 scientists selected for the Vigyan Shri award. Her main research relates to the formation and evolution of stars clusters and galaxies. Others chosen for Vigyan Shri include biologist Jayant Bhalchandra Udgaonkar, a former director of IISER Pune, and particle physicist Naba Kumar Mondal from Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics in Kolkata.

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