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The winner in Physical Sciences is Thanu Padmanabhan of Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics in Pune for his contribution to a deeper understanding of Einstein's Theory of Gravity in the context of thermodynamics and large-scale structure in cosmology. Ashoke Sen of Harish Chandra Research Institute in Allahabad is the winner of the award for Mathematical Sciences in recognition of his fundamental contributions to Mathematical Physics, in particular to string theory. For Life Science - K. Vijaya Raghavan of National Centre of Biological Sciences in Bangalore for his many contributions as a developmental geneticist and neurobiologist.The prize for Social Sciences and Economics has been awarded to Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee of the US-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Upinder Singh of University of Delhi. Banerjee was chosen by a jury headed by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen for his outstanding contributions to the economic theory of development and for his pioneering work in the empirical evaluation of public policy. Singh wins the prize for her contributions as an outstanding historian of ancient and early medieval India.
The jury for Engineering and Computer Sciences, headed by MIT professor Subra Suresh, did not find a suitable candidate for awarding the prize in the discipline.
The prize, which carries a purse of Rs 50 lakh, a citation and a medallion will be given to the five winners by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Jan 4, 2009 in New Delhi.The Foundation was set up early this year with a corpus of Rs 45 crore), including Rs 21 crore jointly contributed by Infosys' co-founders and Rs 24 crore by the Company to promote world class research in natural and social sciences in the Indian sub-continent.
"The highest prize money in five disciplines is to reward and recognise outstanding inventions or discovery or a cumulative body of work done in India that has a positive impact on the nation," Infosys chairman and chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy said on the occasion.
Union Minister for Human Resource Development (HRD) Kapil Sibal said, from New Delhi through a video conference, research was the foundation on which rests a nation's growth.