The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) announced the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar awards for 2022 to be distributed to 12 young scientists across the country.

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize

• Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology was instituted in the year 1957, in the memory of late Dr.Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar, the founder-director of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR).

• The award is given every year to scientists under the age of 45 years and carries a purse of Rs 5 lakh and a citation.

• The Prize is awarded each year on the basis of conspicuously important and outstanding contributions to human knowledge and progress, made through work done primarily in India during the five years preceding the year of the Prize.

• Any citizen of India engaged in research in any field of science and technology up to the age of 45 years is eligible to be nominated. Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) working in India are also eligible. 

The SSB Prize is given to each person selected for the award in the following disciplines:

i) Biological Sciences

ii) Chemical Sciences

iii) Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences

iv) Mathematical Sciences

v) Medical Sciences

vi) Physical Sciences

vii) Engineering Sciences.

Who was Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar?

• Dr.Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar was the first Director General of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR).

• He is also known as “the father of research laboratories in India”.

• Bhatnagar played a significant role in building post-independent science and technology infrastructure and in the formulation of policies. 

• Bhatnagar concurrently held a number of important positions in the government. He was the first chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC). 

• He played an instrumental role in the establishment of the National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) of India. 

• In 1936, Bhatnagar was conferred with Order of British Empire (OBE). 

• He was Knighted in 1941 and elected Fellow of Royal Society, London in 1943. 

• He was honoured with the Padma Vibhushan in 1954.

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