Our Bureau
Hong Kong
Shrinivas R Kulkarni, an Indian-origin professor of astronomy from the US, will be conferred with the prestigious Shaw Prize in Astronomy. He is being awarded for his ground-breaking discoveries about millisecond pulsars, gamma-ray bursts, supernovae, and other variable or transient astronomical objects.
Kulkarni is the George Ellery Hale Professor of Astronomy and Planetary Science, Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy at the California Institute of Technology.
“The Shaw Prize in Astronomy is awarded to Shrinivas R Kulkarni, for his ground-breaking discoveries about millisecond pulsars, gamma-ray bursts, supernovae, and other variable or transient astronomical objects. The other Shaw Prize awardees are Swee Lay Thein and Stuart Orkin, both from the US, who received the Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine is awarded in equal shares, and Peter Sarnak, another US scientist who received the Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences.
Kulkarni did MS from the Indian Institute of Technology in 1978 and completed his PhD from the University of California in 1983. He was also the director of Caltech Optical Observatories from 2006 till 2018.
Hong Kong-based film and television personality and philanthropist Run Run Shaw (1907–2014) founded the Shaw Foundation Hong Kong and The Sir Run Run Shaw Charitable Trust, both of which are dedicated to the promotion of education, scientific and technological research, medical and welfare services, and culture and the arts.
