MEDIA RELEASE PR37737
Infosys Prize 2009 Laureates Awarded at Grand Ceremony
NEW DELHI, Jan. 5 / PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --
- India's Finest Research Achievements of 2009 Recognized
The Infosys Prize 2009 laureates were today felicitated and
awarded at a grand ceremony in New Delhi by the Honorable Vice President of
India Shri Mohammad Hamid Ansari, Chief Guest of the program hosted by the
Infosys Science Foundation. The prize in each category comprised a special
medallion, a citation expounding the laureate's work and Rs. 50 lakh as prize
money.
During this special evening, the jury chairs of the five
disciplines - Prof. Amartya Sen for Social Sciences and Economics, Prof.
Shrinivas Kulkarni for Physical Sciences, Prof. Srinivas Varadhan for
Mathematical Sciences, Prof. Subra Suresh for Engineering Sciences and Prof.
Inder Verma for Life Sciences - described the evaluation methodology of each
category and introduced the laureates.
The laureates of the Infosys Prize 2009, in the different
disciplines are:
Physical Sciences
Thanu Padmanabhan of Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and
Astrophysics, Pune, in recognition of his contribution to a deeper
understanding of Einstein's theory of gravity in the context of thermo
dynamics and large-scale structure in cosmology.
Mathematical Sciences
Ashoke Sen of Harish Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad, in
recognition of his fundamental contributions to Mathematical Physics,
particularly to String Theory.
Life Sciences
K. VijayRaghavan of National Centre of Biological Sciences,
Bangalore, in recognition of his many contributions as a developmental
geneticist and neurobiologist.
Social Sciences and Economics
Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the economic
theory of development, and for his pioneering work in the empirical
evaluation of public policy.
Upinder Singh of the University of Delhi, in recognition for
her contributions as an outstanding historian of ancient and early medieval
India.
Engineering Sciences
No prize was awarded for the Engineering Sciences discipline
this year. This is a unanimous decision by the Jury as they did not find a
suitable candidate in accordance with the statutes of the Infosys Prize.
Delivering the welcome address, Mr. N. R. Narayana Murthy, the
President of the Board of Trustees of the Infosys Science Foundation said,
"Research in sciences is the bedrock of social and technological progress in
our society and this has never been more crucial to India's future than at
this point in time. There is a significant depth of scientific talent in this
country and the objective of the Infosys Prize is to identify and encourage
such outstanding talent. The work done by the Infosys Prize 2009 laureates
are strong examples of the quality of research talent in India. By
recognizing and appropriately rewarding their achievements, we hope to
persuade more bright young people to adopt careers in research."
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Mohammad Hamid Ansari, said, "I
congratulate the laureates of the Infosys Prize 2009. Their signal
contributions in their areas of specialization have been recognized. They
pursued excellence with an intensity that made all obstacles evaporate. Its
recognition today will have a demonstration effect and inspire others to do
likewise. It will boost the confidence of researchers in physical, biological
and social sciences and related branches of knowledge."
The Chief Executive Officer of Infosys Technologies and
Trustee, Infosys Science Foundation, Mr. S. Gopalakrishnan presented the vote
of thanks.
The Infosys Science Foundation was established in February
2009 to promote world-class research in the natural and social sciences in
India. The Infosys Prize is annually awarded in five disciplines to reward
and recognize outstanding inventions or discovery or a cumulative body of
work done in India. The Infosys Prize is amongst the highest in terms of
prize money for any award in India. The laureates of the Infosys Prize are
chosen by individual jury panels, comprising international jurors who
evaluate the candidates against international research.
About the Infosys Science Foundation
The Infosys Science Foundation is a not-for-profit trust set
up by Infosys Technologies in February 2009 to promote research in sciences
in India. Under the aegis of the foundation, Infosys will honor outstanding
contributions and achievements by Indians across various sciences. The annual
award for each category is Rs. 50 lakh. The Infosys Science Foundation is
funded by a corpus of Rs. 45 crore* contributed by Infosys executive board
members and an annual grant from Infosys Technologies Ltd. The jury panel for
each area consists of eminent international personalities in each area
selected by the trustees of the foundation. For more information, please
About Infosys Technologies Ltd.
Infosys Technologies Limited (NASDAQ: INFY) defines, designs
and delivers IT-enabled business solutions that help Global 2000 companies
win in a Flat World. These solutions focus on providing strategic
differentiation and operational superiority to clients. With Infosys, clients
are assured of a transparent business partner, world-class processes, speed
of execution and the power to stretch their IT budget by leveraging the
Global Delivery Model that Infosys pioneered. Infosys has over 105,000
employees in over 50 offices worldwide. Infosys is part of the NASDAQ-100
Index and The Global Dow.
* The Infosys Science Foundation was established with a total
corpus of Rs.45 crore (approximately USD $10 Mn) contributed by Infosys
Technologies Limited and its executive directors. In addition, Infosys
Technologies Limited will also contribute Rs. 4.6 crore (approximately USD $1
Mn) every year towards the prize money and expenses.
For further information please contact:
The Americas
Peter McLaughlin
Infosys Technologies Ltd, US
Phone: +1-213-622-4949, Ext 206
Peter_McLaughlin@infosys.com
Asia Pacific
Sarah Vanita Gideon
Infosys Technologies Ltd,
India
Phone: +91-80-4156-4998
Sarah_Gideon@infosys.com
Australia
Cristin Balog
Infosys Technologies Ltd,
Australia
Phone : +61-3-9860-2277
Cristin_Balog@infosys.com
EMEA
Antonia Maneta
Infosys Technologies Ltd, UK
Phone: +44-0-207-715-3499
Antonia_Maneta@infosys.com
Source: Infosys Technologies Limited
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