Narayana Murthy says research key to nations progress as Infosys Prize 2025 winners named

BENGALURU: While announcing the names of winners of Infosys Prize 2025, Infosys Founder NR Narayana Murthy said that research is the only way to make India a better nation. He added that science and research are not luxuries but necessities for human survival, dignity and progress. The winners are: Nikhil Agarwal of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Economics), Sushant Sachdeva of University of Toronto (Engineering and Computer Science), Andrew Ollett of University of Chicago (Humanities and Social Sciences), Anjana Badrinarayanan of National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru, (Life Sciences), Sabyasachi Mukherjee of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai (Mathematical Sciences), and Karthish Manthiram of California Institute of Technology (Physical Sciences). The awards are given by the Infosys Science Foundation. Each winner is awarded a gold medal, a citation and a prize money of $100,000. The winners were selected by an international jury formed for each category. The jury members included eminent scholars and experts from universities across the world. Since its inception, the ISF has recognised groundbreaking research and scholarship who have influenced various aspects of human life. From 2024, the prize has shifted focus to honour researchers under the age of 40, showing the need for early recognition of exceptional talent. Narayana Murthy went on to say that creating an ecosystem for research is our duty because ultimately, research is the only means we have to make the world a better place. This is the only way that we can fulfil the dreams of our founding fathers who sacrificed their lives to create an India to give education, health care, shelter and nutrition to the poorest child in the remotest village. The responsibility of fulfilling the dreams of forefathers lies on the shoulders of Infosys Prize laureates and I am sure they will succeed in it through their research. List of six awardees Economics Nikhil Agarwal, Paul A Samuelson professor Economics in Massachusetts Institute of Technology for his pioneering contributions to market design, including the development and implementation of pathbreaking methodology for empirical studies of allocation mechanisms, including school choice, medical residency, and kidney exchanges. His work has transformed this rudimentary literature into one anchored in data, providing new insights into policy design. Engineering and Computer Science Sushant Sachdeva, Associate Professor (CSC) of Mathematical and Computational Sciences at the University of Toronto, for his deep insights into mathematical optimisation and the resolution of longstanding open questions in algorithmic theory that has established new standards on achievable performance in computational problems affecting information flows across societal lifelines, including the internet, transportation, and communication networks. Humanities and Social Sciences Andrew Ollett, Associate Professor in the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago, who is the worlds foremost scholar of the Prakrit languages. His mastery in Sanskrit, Prakrit, Kannada, Tamil, Old Javanese, and Chinese, modern European languages and his training in Greek and Latin are exemplary. Mathematical Sciences Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Associate Professor at the School of Mathematics at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, for his powerful work that links two distinct areas of mathematicsthe dynamics of Kleinian group actions and the iteration of holomorphic and anti-holomorphic maps in complex dynamics. Life Sciences Anjana Badrinarayanan, Associate Professor at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru, for her pioneering contributions to understanding mechanisms of genome maintenance and repair. Through innovative live-cell imaging combined with genetic and cell biological approaches, her work has revealed fundamental principles of how DNA damage is repaired, demonstrated mutagenesis in non-dividing cells, and identified novel pathways of mitochondrial DNA damage responses. Physical Sciences Karthish Manthiram, Professor of Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology, for his pioneering work on sustainable electrochemical routes to essential chemicals. His breakthroughs in lithium-mediated ammonia synthesis and oxygen-atom transfer catalysis have transformed our understanding of electrified chemical manufacturing.