Bengaluru: The six categories for the Infosys Prize 2019 named by the Infosys Science Foundation (ISF) encompasses the broad spectrum of the sciences - from Engineering and Computer Sciences, to Humanities, Life Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Physical Sciences and Social Sciences.
All six winners this year are pioneers in their field, but among the stellar cast of scientists and researchers named as Infosys Science Award winners for 2019 is an IISc professor whose father was a farmer. Prof G Mugesh, Assistant Professor from the IISC at the Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry and winner of the ISF award for 'physical sciences', recognized for his seminal work in the chemical synthesis of small molecules and nanomaterials for biomedical applications, was clearly overwhelmed by the honour.
"I come from a family of farmers and my parents are no more. My wife has been a pillar of support. I owe this award to my teachers at IIT, Mumbai," he said.
The buzz this year at the Infosys campus was unmistakable, as the founding father N R Narayana Murthy (see pic above) stood alongside Co-Founder Infosys and Non Executive Chairman of Board Nandan Nilekani, Co-Founder Infosys and Trustee Kris Gopalakrishnan, Co-Founder Infosys and President - Board trustee S D Shibulal, Co-Founder Infosys and Trustee K Dinesh and former Director Infosys and Trustee Srinath Batni and the man in the eye of a recent whistleblower induced storm CEO and MD of Infosys Salil Parekh, that barely merited a comment.
After all, the winner of the 2009 Infosys inaugural award for social sciences, Abhijit Banerjee won the 2019 Nobel prize winner for economics. And the awards ceremony on December 7, will have Nobel winner Prof Amartya Sen as the guest of honour .
As Mr Shibulal, president of the Infosys Science Foundation, said :"Many Infosys Prize laureates have gone on to contribute significantly in key areas like healthcare, genetics, climate science, astronomy and poverty alleviation. We hope their work catalyses social development."
