Tuesday, May 24 2005 10:11 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Tel Aviv: Renowned Indian chemist Professor C N R Rao has won the $ 1 million Dan David Prize in Tel Aviv for his lifetime contribution to material sciences.

"This is a high point in my career. I have received several awards but this is like the Nobel Prize. The standards are very high here and such a major award is being bestowed on an Indian after a long gap since C V Raman got the Nobel Prize in 1930," Rao said before the award ceremony.

He also expressed hope that the award will inspire young Indian scientists to believe that pioneering research can be carried out in their own country.

"I always wanted to stay and work in India. I never wanted to move out even though I could and I am glad that my work is being recognised," Rao told PTI.

The Dan David Prize is a joint international enterprise endowed by the Dan David Foundation and headquartered at Tel Aviv University.

The award is annually given in three fields - Archaeology, Performing Arts and Material Science - in the three-dimensional time framework of past, present and future.

Reminiscing his long trail of scientific research, the 71-year-old Linus Pauling research professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in Bangalore said that people initially ridiculed when he delved into solid state research some 40 years ago.

"They would say what are you doing and what is it about? I have always believed that there is a limitless ladder to excellence in science and would like young scientists in our country to believe so," Rao, currently the Chairman of the Science Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, noted.