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

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

The Infosys Award honors the achievements of individuals whose research and scholarship have a significant impact on India.

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

The winners of the Infosys Award 2024 were selected by an international jury of renowned scholars and experts.

For the past 15 years, the ISF has recognized innovative research that has influenced various aspects of human life.

In 2024, The ISF decided to honor researchers under 40 years of ageemphasizing the need for early recognition of exceptional talent.

Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman, Infosys Science Foundation said, “The Infosys Prize has been instrumental in recognizing 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, recognizing their immense potential and the promise of paradigm-shifting work.”

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

Economy

The 2024 Infosys Prize 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 datasets and drawing on theoretical methods from machine learning and computer science.

Professor Arun Chandrasekhar is the winner of the 2024 Infosys Prize in Economics. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

His collection and mapping of network data from several 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 essential ingredients for better policy making.

Engineering and Computer Science

The 2024 Infosys Award for Engineering and Informatics is awarded to Shyam Gollakota, Professor, School of Informatics and Engineering, University of Washington, for his impactful research and technology translation spanning multiple engineering domains in areas relevant to society, such as assistance accessible smartphone-based healthcare. tools for low- and middle-income countries, battery-free computing and communication, and augmenting human hearing with artificial intelligence.

Professor Shyam Gollakota is the winner of the 2024 Infosys Award for Engineering and Computer Science. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Professor Mahmood Kooria is the winner of the 2024 Infosys Prize for Humanities and Social Sciences. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Humanities and social sciences

The 2024 Infosys Prize for 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 special emphasis on Kerala in premodern and early modern eras. His pioneering studies revealed the role of Islamic law in shaping the economic, political and cultural transformations of the Indian Ocean littoral.

Life Sciences

The 2024 Infosys Prize for 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 on bioactive lipids and their receptors, as well as 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.

Professor Siddesh Kamat is the winner of the 2024 Infosys Prize in Life Sciences. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Professor Neena Gupta is the winner of the 2024 Infosys Prize in Mathematical Sciences. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Mathematical Sciences

The 2024 Infosys Prize for Mathematical Sciences is awarded to Neena Gupta, Professor in the Theoretical and Mathematical Statistics 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 three-dimensional blueberry manifold gives a negative answer to Zariski’s original cancellation problem in positive character.

Physical sciences

The 2024 Infosys Prize in Physical Sciences is awarded to Vedika Khemani, Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at Stanford University, who has made extensive and innovative contributions to theoretical and experimental nonequilibrium quantum matter, particularly the discovery of time crystals. . This could have important implications for the future of quantum computing and other technologies.

Vedika Khemani is the winner of the 2024 Infosys Prize in Physical Sciences. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement