Why in News

Recently, Kurukshetra University has honored four eminent scientists of the country, Prof. NK Mehra (AIIMS, New Delhi), Prof. a. Ajayaghosh (CSIR, NIST, Thiruvananthapuram), Prof. Shyam Sundar (BHU Varanasi) and Prof. Rohini Godbole (IISc, Bangalore) with the Goel Science Award. Each award consists of a medal, a citation and a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh.

Key Points

• The Vice Chancellor of Kurukshetra University and the chairman of the selection committee, Prof. Somnath Sachdeva said that these scientists have made special contributions in applied science, chemistry, biology and physical science respectively.
• Pro. Mehra in the field of transplant immunology and immunogenetics and Prof. Ajayaghosh has done distinguished work on the use of material chemistry in biology. Besides this Prof. Shyam Sundar has developed the drug Miltefastin for the treatment of Visceral Leishmaniasis (Kala-azar) i.e. liver and bone marrow, which is being used by many countries. While Panshri Prof. Rohini Godbole has made special contributions to High Energy Physics.
• In the history of 30 years of the Goyal Science Awards given by the university, this time the third woman scientist, Prof. Rohini Godbole has been selected for the Goel Award.
• Earlier in 1992, Padma Vibhushan Ashima Chatterjee was awarded for the first time in the Goyal Science Award and in 2019 Prof. Laxmikant was honored with the Goel Award.
• Co-Chairman of the Selection Committee Prof. SP Singh said that in the 30-year history of the Goyal Science Awards, only four scientists have been selected from the medical science field, including Dr. Venugopal of AIIMS in 1995 and Dr. KK Talwar of AIIMS in 2003. At the same time, two scientists Prof. NK Mehra and Prof. Shyam Sundar will be given the Goyal Award in the field of Medical Science.
• The Goel Science Prize was established in 1992 by Ramswaroop Goyal, an Indian based in America. So far, this award has been given to more than a hundred eminent scientists, including Dr. C.N.R. Rao, Dr. R.A. Mashelkar and Dr. Kasturirangan etc. are prominent.