Winners of Infosys Prize 2023 awarded

Bengaluru: The Infosys Science Foundation (ISF) on Saturday awarded the winners of the Infosys Prize 2023 at a felicitation ceremony here.

The winners were conferred the prize for their contributions across six fields — Sachchida Nand Tripathi, Professor, Sustainable Energy Engineering, IIT-Kanpur (Engineering and Computer Science); Jahnavi Phalkey, Founding Director, Science Gallery Bengaluru (Humanities); Arun Kumar Shukla, Professor, Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, IIT-Kanpur (Life Sciences); Bhargav Bhatt, Fernholz Joint Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study and Princeton University (Mathematical Sciences); Mukund Thattai, Professor, Biochemistry, Biophysics and Bioinformatics, National Centre for Biological Sciences (Physical Sciences); and Karuna Mantena, Professor, Political Science, Columbia University (Social Sciences).

The Infosys Prize consists of a gold medal, a citation, and a purse of $100,000.

The winners were felicitated by the chief guest at the event, Prof Brian Schmidt, Nobel Laureate, former vice chancellor and distinguished professor of Astronomy at Australian National University.

From top left, Sachchida Nand Tripathi, Jahnavi Phalkey, Arun Kumar Shukla, Bhargav Bhatt, Mukund Thattai and Karuna Mantena — the six winners of the Infosys Prize 2023

Noting that India’s contribution to the world of knowledge is growing quickly, Prof Schmidt said the awardees are world leaders in research and its translation for the benefit of humanity. “The world needs such knowledge to help us live peacefully and sustainably on a planet that isn’t getting any bigger, even though humanity’s footprint is,” he said.

Kris Gopalakrishnan, president, ISF, said the focus of the prize which is in its 15th year continues to be on recognising important scientific research and inspiring future generations to take up careers in science. “Bringing scientific research into mainstream conversation is the need of the hour and we require coordinated effort to ensure that the scientific environment of the country goes from strength to strength,” he said.

The prize winners were chosen from 224 nominations by jury panels chaired by eminent academics.