The Bengaluru-based Infosys Science Foundation (ISF) today announced the winners of the Infosys Prize 2023 in six categories: Engineering and Computer Science, Humanities, Life Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Social Sciences. The prize for each category comprises a gold medal, a citation, and a prize purse of USD 100,000 (or its equivalent in INR). The event was hosted at Infosys Science Foundation’s office in Bengaluru.

Among the awardees are Jahnavi Phalkey (in the Humanities category), a historian of science and Founding Director, Science Gallery Bengaluru, and Mukund Thattai (for Physical Sciences), Professor, Biochemistry, Biophysics and Bioinformatics, National Centre for Biological Sciences. Significantly, both Phalkey and Thattai have contributed, through their writing, lectures and exhibitions, towards making science more accessible and exciting for a lay audience. 

The award for Engineering and Computer Science was conferred on Sachchida Nand Tripathi, Professor, Sustainable Energy Engineering (SEE), IIT-Kanpur, for the deployment of large-scale sensor-based air quality networks for the measurement of pollution, data generation and analysis using artificial intelligence. Prof Tripathi’s work also has real-world impact in terms of combating air pollution and creating citizen awareness. 

The Infosys Prize 2023 in Life Sciences has been awarded to Arun Kumar Shukla, Professor, Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, IIT-Kanpur, for his far-reaching contributions to the field of G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) biology. Prof. Shukla’s research has established a new understanding of GPCRs, which are one of the most important classes of drug targets. His work has opened up previously uncharted avenues for designing novel and effective therapeutics.

In Mathematical Sciences, the prize was awarded to Bhargav Bhatt, Fernholz Joint Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study and Princeton University, for his outstanding and fundamental contributions to arithmetic geometry and commutative algebra. 

The Infosys Prize 2023 in Social Sciences is awarded to Karuna Mantena, Professor, Political Science, Columbia University for her groundbreaking research on the theory of imperial rule. Prof. Mantena’s book Alibis of Empire and related papers are landmark publications in political theory with implications for all social sciences, and helps us understand that the dramatic shift in British imperial policy, following the 1857 rebellion in India, spawned a new ideology of indirect imperial rule. 

The Infosys Prize is awarded by the Infosys Science Foundation, a not-for-profit trust set up in 2009. The award is given annually to honor outstanding achievements of contemporary researchers and scientists in six categories: Engineering and Computer Science, Humanities, Life Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Physical Sciences and Social Sciences. Each prize consists of a gold medal, a citation, and a purse of USD 100,000. The award intends to celebrate success in research and stand as a marker of excellence in these fields.