Shrinivas Kulkarni- An Indian Scientist Wins Dan David Prize For His Contribution To The Field Of Astronomy
Indians are now excelling in every progressive field. Recently we acknowledged an Indian teenager Rafeeth aged 17 from Chennai who managed to make World’s lightest satellite. He is just a one in the list of amusing people born in our country there are many yet giving their best in every possible way. Indian scientist Shrinivas Kulkarni has won the prestigious Dan David prize for his contribution in the field of astronomy.
Recent science sources brought in an another Indian-born genius to the limelight, named Shrinivas Kulkarni for winning the prestigious Dan David prize for his contribution in the field of astronomy, this Indian scientist is from the Southern India and is currently also working as a professor of astrophysics and planetary science at California Institute of Technology in the United States of America.
Shrinivas is a pioneer and leading figure in time-domain astrophysics across the electromagnetic spectrum who built and conducted the Palomar Transient Factory, a large-area survey of the night sky in search of variable and transient phenomena, the survey has turned up thousands of stellar explosions, transforming our knowledge of the transient sky.
It is believed that a massive sum of USD 1 million prize money will be given to Shrinivas which is a joint international enterprise endowed by the Dan David Foundation headquartered at Tel Aviv University. Earlier, prominent Indians like author Amitav Ghosh, music conductor Zubin Mehta and renowned chemist CNR Rao were the laureates of the Dan David prize.
According to the sources, three Dan David prizes of USD 1 million each are given every year in the categories of “Past”, “Present” and “Future” to people around the world who have made outstanding contributions to humanity in the sciences, humanities, or through their work in civil society. In general, the recipients in the “Past” category are generally drawn from the field of history, archaeology, paleontology, biography, etc; the “Present” from arts, media, policy, economics, etc; and the “Future” from one of the exact or natural sciences category.
Coming to this years’ details, the “Future” category this year is dedicated to astronomy and will be shared by Kulkarni, Andrej Udalski of the University of Warsaw and Neil Gehrels of NASA for their discoveries on time-domain astrophysics. And the prize, now in its 16th year, was established by the late Dan David, an international businessman, and philanthropist who envisioned a project that would extend beyond traditional academic categorisations.
The main objective behind giving this prize is to encourage and foster new generations of scholars, the laureates are required to donate 10 percent of their prize money towards scholarships for graduate or post- graduate researchers in their respective fields of interest.