By IANS
Bangalore : V.S. Arunachalam, who pioneered the Indian missile programme in the 1980s, has been awarded the prestigious Brahm Prakash Memorial Medal for 2007 by the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) here.
The award carries a medal and an honorarium of Rs.10,000.
"The award was instituted to commemorate the memory of Brahm Prakash, a pioneer in the development of Indian atomic energy and space programmes, and is given once in three years to a scientist or an engineer who has made outstanding contributions in the field of engineering and technology," a academy statement said late Tuesday.
Arunachalam, former scientific adviser to the defence minister and a distinguished technocrat, is currently chairman of the Centre for Study of Science Technology and Policy (CSTEP), a Bangalore-based think tank.
The previous award winners include S. Banerjee, director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, and Deekshatalu, former director of the National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA).