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.