New Delhi, 12 August 2014

The birth anniversary of Prof. Vikram A. Sarabhai was celebrated at Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad on 12th August 2014, Tuesday by having a “Tree plantation ceremon y ” in the morning, followed by the “Awards Presentation ceremony” where SIX distinguished scientists were bestowed upon by the Hari Om Ashram Prerit Dr. Vikram Sarabhai Research Awards and PRL Award for the year 2013.

The tree plantation ceremony was graced by the presence of Mrs. Mrinalini Sarabhai, Ms. Mallika Sarabhai, Prof. Kartikey Sarabhai, other members of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai’s family and Prof. U. R. Rao, Chairman, Council of Management, PRL.

On this occasion one of the distinguished alumni of PRL, Prof. P. D. Bhavsar, former Director of Space Application Center, Ahmedabad was felicitated with a memento, shawl and a citation for his outstanding contributions in his field of scientific research, Space Sciences.

The award ceremony was organized at the K. R. Ramanathan Auditorium, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad. The awards were presented by Prof. U. R. Rao in the presence of distinguished guests and staff members of Physical Research Laboratory. After the award function each awardee delivered lectures covering the important aspects of their respective research work.

The Hari Om Ashram Prerit Dr. Vikram Sarabhai research award in the field of Space Sciences is awarded to Dr. Tarun Kumar Pant from the Space Physics Laboratory, Thiruvananthapuram, for his significant contributions towards understanding Atmospheric coupling processes, in particular, the association of electrojet and counter electrojet with neutral atmospheric dynamics.

Shri Joji J. Chaman from ISRO Inertial Systems Unit, Thiruvananthapuram received the Hari Om Ashram Prerit Dr. Vikram Sarabhai research award in the field of Space Application for his innovative and outstanding contributions in inertial navigation system for spacecrafts deployed for terrestrial and planetary missions.

In the field of Electronics, Informatics, Telematics and Automation, the Hari Om Ashram Prerit Dr. Vikram Sarabhai research award is conferred jointly to 1. Prof. Souvik Mahapatra from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Mumbai for his significant contribution and development of Negative Bias Temperature Instability tolerant CMOS devices and 2. Prof. Ranjan Bose from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, New Delhi for his outstanding contributions in the area of coding for secure communication.

The recipients of the PRL Award are 1 . Dr. N. V. Chalapathi Rao from the Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi for his pioneering contributions on Indian kimberlites and mantle processes influencing their evolution and 2. Dr. J. S. Ray from Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad for his significant contributions on origin and evolution of Indian carbonatites and the Andaman subduction zone.

Each Award carries a Medal and a Cash Prize of Rs.50,000/-. The Vikram Sarabhai Research Awards were instituted from funds provided by Pujya Shri Mota of Hari Om Ashram, Nadiad, and the PRL Award is supported by the Aruna Lal Endowment Fund established by late Prof. Devendra Lal, former Director of PRL.