China confers top science award on CNR Rao

Beijing: Noted Indian scientist Dr CNR Rao has been conferred with China's top science award for his important contributions in boosting China-India scientific cooperation.

Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) on Wednesday gave its 2012 Award for International Scientific Cooperation to three scientists from India, Germany, and Russia.

Rao, 79, founder of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research ( JNCASR), Bangalore, shared the 2012 award with Herbert Jaeckle of Germany's Max Planck Society and Russian space physicist GA Zherebtsov.

The awards are given every year by the CAS, which is China's top academic and research institution for natural sciences.

It has so far honoured 17 international scientists for their contributions in China-foreign research cooperation, since the prize was instituted in 2007.

"Rao is devoted to the research of solid-state and structural chemistry. He was awarded for his important contributions in boosting scientific cooperation between China and India, as well as raising the scientific capabilities of developing countries", state-run Xinhua news agency quoted CAS as saying in a statement.

Rao has won various prestigious awards. He is currently the head of the scientific advisory council to the Indian Prime Minister.

German scientist Jaeckle specialized in the fields of molecular developmental biology. He has actively promoted scientific cooperation between China and Germany, CAS said.

He has explored and put into practice approaches that integrate a Max Planck management model with the CAS's scientific research system, as well as set up an international team of researchers, it said.

Zherebtsov has actively promoted the construction of a Sino-Russian weather research centre and is currently working to get Russia involved in a CAS space science programme, the CAS said.