NEW DELHI, India, January 4 /PRNewswire/ -- 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 visit http://www.infosys-science-foundation.com
About Infosys Technologies Ltd.
Infosys Technologies Limited 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.
For more information, visit http://www.infosys.com.
* 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
CONTACT: For further information please contact: The Americas, PeterMcLaughlin, Infosys Technologies Ltd, US, Phone: +1-213-622-4949, Ext 206,Peter_McLaughlin@infosys.com; Asia Pacific, Sarah Vanita Gideon, InfosysTechnologies 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, InfosysTechnologies Ltd, UK, Phone: +44-0-207-715-3499, Antonia_Maneta@infosys.com
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