Eminent Indian scientist Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao, popularly known as CNR Rao, has been conferred with the first Sheikh Saud International Prize for Materials Research by the Centre for Advanced Materials of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said an official on Friday.
“The Prize committee unanimously decided to award this to Professor Rao of the Jawaharlal Nehru for Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bengaluru,” the city-based state-run JNCASR’s administrative officer Joydeep Deb said in a statement.
The prize includes a plaque and cash prize of $100,000 (about Rs 71-lakh), the statement said. The award will be presented to Rao by Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, the ruler of one of UAE’s seven emirates Ras Al Khaima.
The prize will be awarded at the International Workshop on Advanced Materials at Ras Al Khaima on February 25, the statement said.
Bengaluru-based Rao was awarded Bharat Ratna by the Indian government in 2014 for his work in materials research, making him the third scientist after CV Raman and Dr APJ Abdul Kalam to receive the highest civilian honour of India.
Some of his areas of research include transition metal oxides and other extended inorganic solids, metal-insulator transitions, nano-materials including nanotubes and graphene, artificial photosynthesis and hydrogen generation by photocatalysis and thermal means. Rao has authored over 1,600 research papers and 50 books.
He has received several national and international honours and awards which include honorary fellowship of the ‘Royal Society of Chemistry’, London in 1989 and ‘Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur’ from France in 2005. He has also been conferred with ‘Padma Shri’ (1974), ‘Padma Vibhushan’ (1985) and ‘Karnataka Ratna’ (2001) among other honours.
