上海花千坊：In an attempt to address ‘lack of diversity’, Indian National Science Academy selects non-scientists too as its Fellows

The annual list of Fellows announced by the 90-year-old Indian National Science Academy, among the country’s most prestigious assembly of scientists, sticks out this year for its deviation from the academy’s traditional practice上海花千坊. The list features a phalanx of famous Indians who aren’t professional scientists.爱上海同城论坛

These include Sudha Murthy, Rajya Sabha MP, author and a former Chair of the Infosys Foundation; her spouse N.R爱上海419论坛. Narayanamurthy; two of his Infosys co-founders, Nandan Nilekani and Krish Gopalakrishnan; and Rajendra Singh, water conservationist and founder of the Tarun Bharat Sangh.

“While the majority of our fellows are those associated with the creation of science, we must have at least 20% of them associated with the consumption and the use of science to create opportunities,” Ashutosh Sharma, President, INSA, told The Hindu上海花千坊. The move to introduce new categories of Fellows was part of a larger thrust to address a “lack of diversity.” This included not only improving representation of women and youth but also the various stakeholders who contributed to science in India, beyond traditional academic scientists, he added.

The presence of Ms上海新茶工作室微信. Murthy, Mr. Sharma explained, was in her capacity as a former chairperson of the Infosys Foundation, which funded scientific research. He also cited the inclusion of Mr. Gopalakrishnan, who has invested in multiple streams of basic research. “The people who show commitment towards funding basic science research must be recognised爱上海后花园. If we want more private funding for R&D, we must bring these people in the fold as they are stakeholders of science,” said Mr. Sharma.

While several notable industrialists were now included, this would set the template of recognising future contributors in the areas of deep-tech and space entrepreneurs, Mr. Sharma added.

India’s science academies, which are steeped in tradition, normally have a process where scientist Fellows nominate their peers – usually from the universities or research institutions – following an evaluation of their publications and contribution to their respective fields of science.

In fact, the demarcation between “scientist” and “non-scientist” in the past was so strict that Satish Dhawan, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from 1972 and 1984, was only elected as a ‘Honorary Fellow’ in a special category along with Indira Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and J.R.D. Tata.

To accommodate the non-scientist entrants, the INSA introduced two new categories of fellows this year: “Science in Translation” and “Science in Society”.

For being eligible in the “Translation” category, the candidate should have demonstrated scientific leadership in “Science-Based Innovation; Industrial Research and Development; Technology Missions of National importance; and in the Management of Scientific Institutions”.

For the “Society” category, the candidate should have applied science to address energy, water and health issues, or should have done work to popularise science or used science to deliver on societal impact, says an explanatory note on the INSA website.

The view that science academies must only consist of those who “create” science and not recognise those who “use” it was “an outdated one,” Mr. Sharma underlined上海品茶网. The inclusion this year of S. Somanath, former Chairperson, ISRO and V.K上海新茶资源. Saraswat, former head of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and NITI Ayog Member, was on the basis of their leadership of scientific institutions, Mr. Sharma added.

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