A file photo of Infosys co-founders N. R. Narayana Murthy and S. Gopalakrishnan, addressing mediapersons regarding the changes in the Infosys Prize, at Infosys Science Foundation (ISF), Jayanagar, in Bengaluru on May 15, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Murali Kumar K

The Infosys Science Foundation (ISF) announced the winners of the Infosys Prize 2024 in six categories — Economics, Engineering and Computer Science, Humanities and Social Sciences, Life Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, and Physical Sciences.

The Infosys Prize honours the accomplishments of individuals whose research and scholarship significantly impact India.

The prize for each category comprises a gold medal, a citation, and a purse of $100,000 (or its equivalent in rupees).

The laureates of Infosys Prize 2024 were selected by an international panel of jurors comprising renowned scholars and experts.

Over the past 15 years, ISF has recognised groundbreaking research that has influenced various aspects of human life.

In 2024, the ISF decided to honour researchers under 40, emphasising the need for early recognition of exceptional talent.

Kris Gopalakrishnan, President, Infosys Science Foundation, said, “The Infosys Prize has played a pivotal role in recognising brilliant minds whose contributions are shaping the future of research and science. This year, we refocused to reward early career researchers under the age of 40, recognising their immense potential and the promise of paradigm-changing work.”

The winners of the Infosys Prize 2024 in the six categories are:

Economics

The Infosys Prize 2024 in Economics is awarded to Arun Chandrasekhar, Professor, Department of Economics, Stanford University, for his contribution to the study of social and economic networks, using innovative data sets and drawing on theoretical methods from machine learning and computer science.

His collection and mapping of networks data, from multiple villages in Karnataka, provides a test bed for studying important questions in development economics. Prof. Chandrasekhar’s work sheds light on the role of networks in the functioning of the modern economy. His work provides critical ingredients for better policy making.

Engineering and Computer Science

The Infosys Prize 2024 in Engineering and Computer Science is awarded to Shyam Gollakota, Professor, School of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Washington for his impactful research and technology translation spanning multiple engineering domains in societally relevant areas, such as smartphone-based affordable healthcare tools for low- and middle-income countries, battery-free computing and communication, and augmentation of human auditory sensing with artificial intelligence.  

Humanities and Social Sciences

The Infosys Prize 2024 in Humanities and Social Sciences is awarded to Mahmood Kooria, lecturer, School of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, for his outstanding and seminal contributions to the study of maritime Islam in a global perspective, with particular focus on Kerala in the pre-modern and early modern eras. His pioneering studies have revealed the role of Islamic law in shaping economic, political, and cultural transformations on the Indian Ocean littorals.

Life Sciences

The Infosys Prize 2024 in Life Sciences is awarded to Siddhesh Kamat, Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune, for his discoveries concerning bioactive lipids and their receptors, and their metabolic and signaling pathways. His research, using advanced methods to understand the function of lipids, a key component of cells, has important implications for understanding the role of these molecules in a range of cellular functions and human diseases.

Mathematical Sciences

The Infosys Prize 2024 in Mathematical Sciences is awarded to Neena Gupta, Professor in the Theoretical Statistics and Mathematics Unit at the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, for her work on the Zariski Cancellation Problem, a fundamental problem in algebraic geometry first posed in 1949 by Oscar Zariski, one of the founders of modern algebraic geometry. In 2014, she proved the striking result that Asanuma’s 3-dimensional affine variety yields a negative answer to Zariski’s original Cancellation Problem in positive characteristic.

Physical Sciences

The Infosys Prize 2024 in Physical Sciences is awarded to Vedika Khemani, Associate Professor in the Physics Department at Stanford University, who has made wide-ranging and groundbreaking contributions to theoretical and experimental non-equilibrium quantum matter, most notably the discovery of time-crystals. This could have important implications for the future of quantum computing and other technologies.

Mumbai:

The Bombay High Court came down heavily on Satara police for seeking action against a professor who referred to late activist Govind Pansare’s book ‘Shivaji Kon Hota’ while pacifying agitated students during an event.

The court questioned the police as to what kind of democracy this was and asked whether an offence was made out against the professor.

The division bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Prithviraj K Chavan was hearing a plea by Dr Mrunalini Aher who challenged a letter sent by the sub-inspector of a police station in Satara district in August 2023.

The plea was disposed of on Friday after police told the court the letter will be unconditionally withdrawn.

The professor claimed the letter “brazenly and in complete excess of its powers” asked the principal of Yashwantrao Chavan College in Pachwad to conduct a probe against Ms Aher and submit a report to the police station.

The plea, filed through her advocate, claimed that on August Kranti Din (August 9) last year a professor delivered a lecture on venerable personalities.

During the speech a segment of students got agitated as they felt that some disrespectful words were used about the said personalities.

Ms Aher, who was present during the lecture, claimed she attempted to pacify the situation and referred to Pansare’s book to do so, the plea said.

Ms Aher claimed some “over-enthusiastic and unscrupulous” members of the audience then sought to attack her alleging she was supporting the fellow professor instead of condemning his behaviour.

The sub-inspector in question, who was also present on the spot, asked the principal to conduct a departmental enquiry against the professor.

Initiation of such an enquiry on the request by a police officer who was not an appointing authority was illegal, she said in her plea.

The high court bench asked the police sub-inspector if he had read the book and questioned if an offence was made out despite the petitioner’s right to freedom of speech.

The police officer could not have exceeded his powers and asked or issued directions to the college principal to take action, the high court bench said.

The court then warned the state of passing strictures against the officer.

However, the plea was disposed of after the prosecution told the court the communication will be unconditionally withdrawn.

Pansare was shot at on February 16, 2015, in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur and died of his injuries on February 20.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)