The esteemed Vigyan Yuva Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award under the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar (RVP) 2025 has been awarded to Dr. Dibyendu Das, Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata. This is one of India’s most prestigious awards for outstanding scientific innovation and research. The only recipient in Chemistry for 2025 is Dr. Das.

The earlier recipients include IISER Kolkata faculty like Soumitro Banerjee (2003, Physics), Biswarup Mukhopadhyaya (2003, Physics), Swadhin Kumar Mandal (2018, Chemistry), and Rahul Banerjee (2018, Chemistry).

Dr. Das is well known throughout the world for his groundbreaking work in the field of systems chemistry, which studies how basic chemical building blocks can develop into lifelike activities. His work tackles basic issues about the genesis of life and the development of “Life 2.0”, or living-matter-like systems, in the lab.

Dr. Das said, “To earn the Vigyan Yuva Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award 2025 in Chemistry makes me really delighted and honored. This acknowledgment gives us more confidence to pursue systems chemistry, a fascinating and developing field of study. Networks of reactions exhibiting emergent, lifelike characteristics are studied in this discipline. We expect to learn more about the possible origins of living matter on Earth through these investigations, as well as whether it is possible to produce life-like matter, or Life 2.0, in a lab. I am deeply grateful to the jury for this honor. It will genuinely motivate us to keep using chemistry to comprehend and build systems that resemble living things”.

This prize honors Dr. Das’s ground-breaking findings, influential research publications, and leadership in expanding one of the exciting frontiers of contemporary chemistry.

The Hon’ble President of India will shortly present the Vigyan Yuva Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Awards at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi, just like last year.

Priyanka Dutta