The Dr. M.S. Swaminathan Award for Environment Protection has been instituted by the Rotary Club of Madras East in the name of our Honorary Member and India’s most acclaimed Agricultural Scientist, Dr M S Swaminathan.
Our club is among the most active ones in the Rotary District 3230 and is the second largest in Chennai, comprising of well over 100 members. We are involved in a number of noteworthy projects in the areas of poverty alleviation, social upliftment, education and health for underprivileged strata of society such as slums, corporation school children and indigent farmers. For these impactful activities, the Club has been recognized by the State, the Rotary District as well as Rotary International.
The club has conducted various programs under the active guidance of and participation by Dr. M.S. Swaminathan pertaining to sustainable development, empowering rural women, food security, environment protection and renewable energy, to name a few. The Club has also been privileged to recognise various noteworthy individuals and organisations with this eponymous award in the past 20 years. The club has been partnered in the issuance of this award in the past few years by CavinKare, headed by its Chairman Mr.C.K.Ranganathan; a leading manufacturer of fast-moving consumer goods in the fashion and food sectors.
The Dr M S Swaminathan Award for Environmental Protection is presented to either an individual, company or NGO which has contributed, either directly or indirectly, to heightening environmental protection and awareness, in any part of the world.
The past recipients of this Award include personages who have contributed significantly through their work, such as Dr Ismail Serageldin, former Vice-President of Sustainable Development at the World Bank, Dr Jeffrey Sachs, Head, Earth Institute, Columbia University, Dr. Sartaj Aziz, the former Foreign Minister and current Principal Advisor to Prime Minister of Pakistan and Dr. Madhav Gadgil, noted environmentalist who has also been conferred Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan by the President of India.
For the year 2015, the club, in consultation with Dr M S Swaminathan has unanimously chosen Dr. Bruce Alberts, who was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Barack Obama in 2014.
Dr. Alberts served as Editor in Chief, Science Magazine a premier journal of international standing from 2008 to 2013. As Editor-in-chief, Science magazine he was instrumental in establishing a separate section devoted to “Sustainability Sciences” demonstrating his commitment to sustainable lifestyles & livelihoods.
He held the prestigious position of President of National Academy of Sciences; Washington D.C. for two six year terms from 1993 to 2005.During his tenure at the NAS, Alberts was instrumental in developing the landmark National Science Education standards that have been implemented in school systems nationwide. The type of “science as inquiry” teaching we need, says Alberts, emphasizes “logical, hands-on problem solving, and it insists on having evidence for claims that can be confirmed by others. It requires work in cooperative groups, where those with different types of talents can discover them – developing self confidence and an ability to communicate effectively with others.”
From 2009 to 2011 he was the United States Science Envoy.Committed in his international work to the promotion of the “creativity, openness and tolerance that are inherent to science,” Dr. Alberts believes that “scientists all around the world must now band together to help create more rational, scientifically-based societies that find dogmatism intolerable.”
He is currently the Chancellor’s Leadership Chair in Biochemistry and Biophysics for Science & Education; University of California, San Francisco.
Dr. Alberts is also noted as one of the original authors of The Molecular Biology of the Cell, a preeminent textbook in the field soon to be in its sixth edition. For the period 2000 to 2009, he served as the co-chair of the Inter Academy Council, a new organization in Amsterdam governed by the presidents of 15 national academies of sciences and established to provide scientific advice to the world.
His exemplary and pioneering research on DNA replication; his wise counsel urging young researchers to use model organisms, which have remarkable homologies between living beings, for unravelling the mysteries of the basic processes for human life and his terming the cell processes based on complex mechanisms as “elegant” gives us a glimpse of this beautiful mind and elder statesman of science.
Dr.Bruce Alberts “a great friend of India” according to Prof.M.S.Swaminathan honours us by accepting this award.
Gnaneshwar Pettukola
Rotary Club of Madras East
