Soumya Swaminathan
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India’s Soumya Swaminathan and Professor Manindra Agrawal are among 90-plus other international researchers from across the world to be elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of sciences. Soumya, former chief scientist to the World Health Organization and Chairperson MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, joins her father, late MS Swaminathan, besides fellow scientist Gagandeep Kang, among other Indian scientists, elected to the Royal Society, in the past. Professor Agrawal isDirector, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur.“This year’s cohort includes pioneers and leaders across a range of scientific fields, from astronomy and cancer research to mathematics and biotechnology,” a note from the Royal Society said, adding that some of this year’s fellows included a palaeontologist who has named more dinosaur species than any other living person; a biologist who has developed the field of ‘oncofertility’ that helps cancer patients who are receiving life-preserving but fertility-threatening treatments to have a family; and a physicist who established quantum technology as a research focus at Toshiba, expanding the company’s UK R&D team with substantial funding, and launched a world-leading commercial division.
