Laureate .
Dr Swaminathan was selected as the first World Food Prize Laureate , receiving the award in 1987 . He used the funds he received from The World Food Prize to open a research center , the M . S . Swaminathan Research Foundation , in Chennai , India , in 1988 . With distinguished contacts on every continent , he initiated dialogue among agricultural scientists , social scientists and field workers to – in his own words – “ reach the unreached .”
In 2002 , Dr Swaminathan was elected President of the Nobel Peace Prizewinning Pugwash Conferences on science and world affairs , which brings global leaders and thinkers together with the goals of reducing the danger of armed conflict and cooperatively solving global problems . He was the first citizen of a developing country to hold this post . Dr Swaminathan joined the 2002 World Food Prize Laureate Dr . Pedro Sanchez as a Hunger Task Force coordinator for the United Nations Millennium Project . Dr Swaminathan was the chair of the National Commission on Farmers constituted in 2004 .
In 2007 , President , Dr A . P . J . Abdul Kalam nominated him to the Rajya Sabha .
One of the first national awards he received was the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in 1961 . Following this he was conferred with the Padma Shri , Padma Bhushan , and Padma Vibhushan awards , as well as the H K Firodia award , the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award , and the Indira Gandhi Prize . As of 2016 , he had received 33 national and 32 international awards . In 2004 , an agricultural think-tank in India named an annual award after Swaminathan , the eponymously named ‘ Dr . M . S . Swaminathan Award for Leadership in Agriculture ’.
For his scientific brilliance , Swaminathan received over 50 honorary doctorate degrees from universities around the world and has been a member of over 30 academies worldwide , including the Indian National Academy of Science and the Royal Society of London .
Dr Swaminathan won numerous international awards such as the 1994 UNEP Sasakawa Environment Prize ; the UNESCO Gandhi Gold Medal in 1999 ; the 1999 Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace , Disarmament , and Development ; and the Franklin D . Roosevelt Four Freedoms Award in 2000 . TIME Magazine honored him as one of the twenty most influential Asians of the 20th century .
On 26th September 2023 , 98-year-old Dr Swaminathan passed away at his home in Chennai after a brief illness . In the words of former United Nations Secretary General Javier Perez Cuellar , Dr . Swaminathan was a legend who was set to go into the annals of history as a world scientist of a rare distinction . And yes , he did ! He will continue to remain in the memories of millions of Indians and inspire our aspiring agriculture scientists .
As the whole bioscience industry mourns his loss , we at BioVoice News offer our rich tributes to one of the India ’ s favorite sons of the soil .
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