Kalam to honour 13 young scientists at ISC

Chennai, Nov 1: Thirteen young scientists will be honoured by President A P J Abdul Kalam during the five-day 94th Indian Science Congress (ISC) to be held at Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu from January three to seven next year.

At a curtain raiser meet here last night, ISC General President Harsh Gupta said the scientists would be presented Rs 25,000 cash award each.

In addition, Rs 10,000 will be given to them by the Annamalai University where the ISC is being held for the first time in the State.

Nobel Laureates and eminent scientists from India and abroad in a wide range of fields, including Space, Defence and Atomic Energy would be among the 6,000-odd delegates to be attending the Congress.

As per the tradition, the Prime Minister will be inaugurating the Congress on the university campus on January three.

The focal theme of 94th edition of the ISC would be ''Planet Earth'' to address vital issues closely related to the natural habitat.

''In the recent past, the earth has been battered by frequent natural and man-made disasters like earthquakes, tsunami, floods and cyclones, which threaten the very existence of our lives.

There have been many scientific breakthroughs, but a lot still needs to be done,'' Dr Gupta said and added this edition of the ISC would devote itself to the theme ''Planet Earth.'' The five-day scientific meet would comprise technical sessions, plenary sessions, vision talks, panel discussions, Pride of India Expo, children science congress and a summit meeting.

The Pride of India Expo would showcase the new-age-sciences like biotechnology, nanotechnology, genetics, oil and mineral exploration, weather forecasting and space applications for Planet Earth.

UNI