Indian Scientist Shrinivas Kulkarni Wins Prestigious Dan David Prize

Indian scientist Shrinivas Kulkarni has won the prestigious Dan David prize as a recognition for his contributions made in the field of astronomy.
Shrinivas Kulkarni, a professor of astrophysics and planetary science at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, is a pioneer in the field of time-domain astrophysics. He has been credited for building and conducting the Palomar Transient Factory, which is a large-area survey of the night sky that has turned up with thousands of stellar explosions.
Shrinivas kulkarni would share the award with Andrej Udalski of the University of Warsaw and Neil Gehrels of NASA for their discoveries on time-domain astrophysics in the “Future” category of the prize.
With this award, Shrinivas Kulkarni will join other prominent Indians who have won the Dan David prize like noted author Amitav Ghosh, music conductor Zubin Mehta and renowned chemist CNR Rao.

Dan David Prize

The Dan David Foundation was established in 2000 by the late Dan David, an international businessman and philanthropist. Three Dan David prizes of $1 million each are awarded each year in the categories of “Past,” “Present” and “Future” to people who have made exemplary contributions to humanity in the field of sciences, humanities, or for their work in civil society. 
The recipients in the “Past” category are chosen from the field of history, archaeology, paleontology, biography, etc;.
The recipients in the “Present” category are chosen from arts, media, policy, economics, etc.
The recipients in the “Future” category are chosen  from one of the exact or natural sciences.
The prize mandates the laureates to donate 10% of their prize money to provide scholarships for graduate or post-graduate researchers in their respective fields.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2017