Infosys Science Foundation announces winners of the prestigious 'Infosys Prize 2023'

Bengaluru, Nov 15 (PTI) Infosys Science Foundation (ISF) on Wednesday announced the prestigious Infosys Prize 2023 to six individuals for their remarkable contributions to scientific research in India.

The winners in six categories -- Engineering and Computer Science, Humanities, Life Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Social Science -- are: Engineering and Computer Science: Sachchida Nand Tripathi, Professor, Sustainable Energy Engineering (SEE), IIT-Kanpur, for the deployment of large-scale sensor-based air quality network and mobile laboratory for hyper local measurements of pollution, data generation and analysis using artificial intelligence and machine learning for effective air quality management and citizens awareness.

Humanities: Jahnavi Phalkey, Founding Director, Science Gallery Bengaluru, for her brilliant and granular insights into the individual, institutional, and material histories of scientific research in modern India.

Life Sciences: Arun Kumar Shukla, Professor, Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, IIT-Kanpur, for his outstanding and far-reaching contributions to the field of G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) biology.

Mathematical Sciences: Bhargav Bhatt, Fernholz Joint Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study and Princeton University, for his outstanding and fundamental contributions to arithmetic geometry and commutative algebra.

Physical Sciences: Mukund Thattai, Professor, Biochemistry, Biophysics and Bioinformatics, National Centre for Biological Sciences, in recognition of his groundbreaking contributions to evolutionary cell biology.

Social Sciences: Karuna Mantena, Professor, Political Science, Columbia University for her groundbreaking research on the theory of imperial rule, and the claim that this late imperial ideology became one of the important factors in the emergence of modern social theory.

The prize for each category comprises a gold medal, a citation, and a prize purse of USD 100,000 (or its equivalent in INR). It will be presented on January 13.

Since its inception in 2008, the Infosys Prize has honoured the accomplishments of the recipients and awarded them for their contributions to scientific research and scholarship impacting India, ISF said.

The laureates of Infosys Prize 2023 were shortlisted from 224 nominations by an international panel of jurors comprising "world-renowned" scholars and experts, the foundation said, adding, over the past 15 years, ISF has recognised some of the best groundbreaking research and scholarship that has contributed to every aspect of human life.

The Infosys Prize is currently the largest award in India that recognises excellence in science and research, it claimed.

The winners of the Infosys Prize 2023 were announced by the trustees of ISF – S Gopalakrishnan (President, Board of Trustees), N R Narayana Murthy, Srinath Batni, K Dinesh, and S D Shibulal.

The other trustees of ISF are: Nandan M Nilekani, T V Mohandas Pai, and Salil Parekh.

Gopalakrishnan said: "This year marks a landmark moment in Infosys Science Foundation’s journey. Over the course of 15 years, the Infosys Prize has recognised mid-career researchers who have done impactful, groundbreaking work across disciplines. The prize has helped drive conversations around their work and, on a larger scale, created meaningful engagement around science and society." Sharing his thoughts, Narayana Murthy, Founder – Infosys, Trustee – ISF, said, "Learnability, creativity and innovation are the ways to navigate our fast-changing world. We must be daringly inventive to tackle the daunting and persistent problems of today." The laureates of the Infosys Prize have shown us the importance of this adaptive thinking through their approach to problem solving. "Be it for centuries-old conjectures in mathematics, translational medicine and diagnostics or finding solutions to societal challenges like poverty," he said. PTI