Prof. Gautam R. Desiraju Awarded the Fourteenth Ewald Prize

Distinguished Professor at the IKSMHA Centre

It is an honour for the IKSMHA Centre, IIT Mandi that Prof. Gautam R. Desiraju, Distinguished Professor at the IKSMHA Centre, is awarded the Fourteenth Ewald Prize, the highest award in crystallography, for pioneering the subject of crystal engineering and the supramolecular synthon concept, and for establishing the structural significance of weak hydrogen bonding and halogen bonding in molecular crystals and biology.

The 14th Ewald Prize is awarded to Professor Gautam R. Desiraju, Professor Emeritus in the Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, Distinguished Professor at the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, Professor at the School of Technology, Rishihood University, Sonipat and Distinguished Professor in the Centre of Indian Knowledge Systems and Mental Health Applications at the Indian Institute of Technology Mandi. He received his PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1976 and, following research at the Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, returned to India in 1978 to pursue a distinguished academic career spanning the University of Hyderabad and the Indian Institute of Science.

Professor Desiraju is internationally well known for his work on crystal engineering and weak hydrogen bonds and is recognised for establishing crystal engineering as a predictive, design-oriented discipline within structural chemistry.

In 1995, he introduced the concept of the supramolecular synthon, identifying this module, the core of a crystal structure, as a synthetic target, thereby enabling a retrosynthetic approach that has transformed crystal design and become foundational to modern crystal engineering.

As the author of more than 475 research papers with over 80,000 citations (h-index approximately 105), Professor Desiraju is among the most highly cited scientists in structural chemistry.

Professor Desiraju will deliver the Ewald Prize Lecture during the Opening Ceremony of the 27th IUCr Congress on 11 August 2026.

Felicitation of IKSMHA centre with Bibek Debroy Bharatiya Bauddhik Parampara Samvardhan Prashasti 2025

The Indian Knowledge System and Mental Health Applications (IKSMHA) Centre at IIT Mandi has been felicitated with the prestigious Bibek Debroy Bharatiya Bauddhik Parampara Samvardhan Prashasti 2025 by ReTHINK INDIA, an action-cum-advocacy platform working at the intersection of academia, industry, and government to promote Indian civilizational excellence.

The recognition was conferred in appreciation of the Centre’s significant contributions to advancing the Ayurvedic perspective on mental health and well-being. This includes its work on the physiology of sense organs, the concepts of Atma and Manas, Nidra, and Ayurvedic approaches to psychosomatic and psychiatric disorders—thereby expanding the scope of the Indian mental health system through the lens of Indian Knowledge Systems.

The felicitation ceremony, organized as a digital event on January 25, 2025, commemorated the first birth anniversary of the eminent Indic intellectual Bibek Debroy.