Six bag Infosys science prize

The Infosys Science Foundation (ISF) on Thursday announced the winners of Infosys Prize 2014.

This year’s winners have been recognised for research in fields as diverse as database design and optimisation, interpretation of patent laws, understanding emotion and cognition in the brain, probabilistically checkable proofs, green chemistry and affordable healthcare.

Awards will be presented across six categories: Engineering and Computer Science, Humanities, Life Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Physical Sciences and Social Sciences.
Now in its sixth year, the Infosys Prize honours high-calibre researchers for impactful contributions to their fields.

The prize consists of a purse of Rs 55 lakh, a 22-carat gold medallion and a citation certificate for each category.  The awards will be distributed on January 5, 2015, in Kolkata by President Pranab Mukherjee.

In the field of humanities, Shamnad Basheer, Founder and Managing Trustee, Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access, Bangalore, has been awarded this prize for his contributions to the analysis of a range of legal issues, including pharmaceutical patent injunctions and enforcement.

Shubha Tole, Associate Professor and Principal Investigator, Department of Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India, was awarded under the life sciences category for her contributions to studying the hippocampus and amygdala — centres of learning and memory in the brain.

In the Mathematical Sciences area, Madhu Sudan, Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research New England and Adjunct Professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department and Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory has been awarded this prize for his seminal contributions to probabilistically checkable proofs and error-correcting codes.

Srivari Chandrasekhar, Scientist G, Organic Chemistry Division, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad, was presented the prize for his contributions in the general area of synthetic organic chemistry with special focus on synthesis of complex molecules from natural sources in the Physical Sciences section.

For Social Sciences, the winner was Esther Duflo, Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics, Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Founder and Director, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), USA, for her pioneering contributions to development economics, especially work related to countries such as India and Africa.

In Engineering and Computer Science, awarded was bagged by Jayant Haritsa, Professor, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, for his contributions to the design and optimisation of database engines.