Venkataramana is being awarded for his research in the area of number theory, specifically the theory of algebraic groups and discontinuous groups that have occupied centre stage in number theory over the last five decades, an ISRO release said.

The other awardees announced here by ISRO chairman Dr K Kasturirangan, who is also chairman of the B M Birla Science Prizes Awards Board, include Dr Mohit Randeria, associate professor of TIFR, for his contribution in the area of condensed matter physics, both experimental and theoretical.

Dr Madan Rao, fellow in the Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Chennai, has been selected for his studies in the area of statistical mechanics and soft condensed matter physics.

Dr Pratim Kumar Chattaraj, professor in IIT, Kharagpur, bagged the award in chemistry, for his contribution to thestudy of chemical reaction dynamics using quantum potential based approaches.

Dr Santanu Bhattacharya associate professor, Indian Institute of Science (IIS), Bangalore, for his contribution to organic chemistry. Dr Anil Grover, reader of Delhi University, gets the award in biology, for his outstanding contribution to plant stress biology, biochemistry, molecular biology and biotechnology.