Six eminent professors have won the Infosys Prize 2019 across different categories of science and research, the software major’s science foundation announced on November 7.

The annual award includes a pure gold medal, a citation and a prize purse worth $100,000, the Infosys Science Foundation (ISF) said in a statement.

The winners were announced across six categories - engineering and computer sciences, humanities, life sciences, mathematical sciences, physical sciences and social sciences.

A panel of accomplished jurors comprising renowned scholars and professors shortlisted the winners from 196 nominations.

The Infosys Prize 2019 for engineering and computer science has been awarded to Sunita Sarawagi, a professor in IIT Bombay, for her research in databases, data mining, machine learning and natural language processing, and for important applications of these research techniques, the ISF said.

The foundation said Sarawagi’s work has practical applications in helping clean up unstructured data like addresses on the web and in repositories which then helps in more efficient handling of queries.

In the field of humanities, the prize has been given to Manu V. Devadevan, assistant professor at IIT Mandi for his original and wide-ranging work on pre-modern South India. He critically reinterprets much of the conventional wisdom about the cultural, religious and social history of the Deccan and South India, the ISF said.

Manjula Reddy, chief scientist, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, bagged the prize in the field of life sciences for her “groundbreaking” discoveries concerning the structure of cell walls in bacteria.

Reddy and her colleagues have revealed critical steps of cell wall growth that are fundamental for understanding bacterial biology. This work could potentially help in creating a new class of antibiotics to combat antibiotic resistant microbes, according to the ISF.

For mathematical sciences, the prize has been awarded to Siddhartha Mishra, professor at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, for his outstanding contributions to applied mathematics, particularly for designing numerical tools for solving problems in the real world.

Mishra’s work has been used in climate models, astrophysics, aerodynamics and plasma physics. He has produced codes for complicated realistic problems such as tsunamis generated by rock slides, and waves in the solar atmosphere, according to the ISF.

For physical sciences, the prize has been awarded to G. Mugesh, professor at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, for his seminal work in the chemical synthesis of small molecules and nanomaterials for biomedical applications.

The ISF said his work has contributed to the understanding of the role of trace elements, selenium and iodine, in thyroid hormone activation and metabolism, and this research has led to major medical advances.

Anand Pandian, professor at Johns Hopkins University in the US, has won the prize for social sciences for his imaginative work on ethics, selfhood and the creative process, the ISF said.

Pandian’s research encompasses several themes such as cinema, public culture, ecology, nature and the theory and methods of anthropology, it said.

“The Infosys Prize continues to recognise exemplary work in scientific research and enquiry,” said ISF president S.D. Shibulal.

“Many Infosys Prize laureates have gone on to contribute significantly in key areas like health care, genetics, climate science, astronomy and poverty alleviation, among other things. Their work has immediate implications for the human race and the planet,” he said.

Infosys founder and ISF trustee N.R. Narayana Murthy said, “We should start helping our youngsters pursue fundamental research enthusiastically. They should be encouraged and equipped to become contributors to solving huge problems that confront us every day. I want India to be a place where discovery and invention happen every month.”

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