3 IISc Scientists Win National Science Academy Award

BENGALURU:The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) conferred the prestigious Young Scientist Medal on three scientists from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, while three others were inducted into the academy at a ceremony at the National Institute of Oceanography in Goa on Sunday.

This year, INSA president Raghavendra Gadagkar from the Centre for Ecological Sciences at IISc decided to have an open function for the awardees.

Since its inception in 1935, INSA has been handing out its accolades in ceremonies that were not open to the public. The INSA Young Scientist Medal is conferred on those below 35 years of age who show exceptional promise.

The award consists of a medal, a certificate and a cash prize of `25,000 along with a grant for them to kickstart their research.

The medal is “considered to be the highest recognition of promise, creativity and excellence in a young scientist,” according to the INSA website.

Of those from IISc, Soumya Das from the Department of Mathematics was awarded the Young Scientist Medal for his work in number theory.

Suryasarathi Bose from the Department of Materials Engineering received the award for his work in material development and characterisation and Santanu Mukherjee from the Department of Organic Chemistry for the development of novel methods for synthesising organic compounds.

The three other IISc scientists who were inducted into INSA are Paturu Kondiah from the Department of Molecular Reproduction, Development and Genetics for his work in tumour biology, Pradip Dutta from Department of Mechanical Engineering for work in thermal technologies and Srinivasan Sampath from the Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry for his work on materials chemistry, a press release from the IISc said.