Odia physicist of international repute Professor Jnanadeva Maharana has been awarded the prestigious Satyendranath Bose Medal.
Prof Maharana, son of eminent freedom fighters Sharat Chandra Maharana and Annapurna Maharana and grandson of Gopabandhu Choudhury and Ramadevi, is the first Odia to win this coveted award instituted bythe Indian National Science Academy in memory of renowned scientist Satyendranath Bose, and given in every three years.
With this achievement, Prof Maharana joins the ranks of scientists like ECG Sudarshan, CNR Rao, CK Majumdar, Ashok Sen, DP Ray and Rohini Godbole.
A PhD holder from the IIT-Kanpur, 70-year-old Prof Maharana has worked in reputed organisations like the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, the Institute of Physics Bhubaneswar, the National institute of Science Education & Research (NISER).
He has also worked in several reputed institutes in countries like Japan, Germany, England, Switzerland and the US.
His research work on high energy physics, quantum field theory, string theory, gravitation, anti-symmetric tensor, etc., have been a source of guidance for young research scholars.