Vishweshwaraiah Prakash

Prakash was born in the south Indian state of Karnataka on 23 November 1951, graduated (BSc) from Mysore University and followed it up with a master's degree (MS) from the same institution. Later, he secured his doctoral degree (PhD) from University of Mysore in 1976 and, obtaining a fellowship, he moved to US in 1976 and did post-doctoral research at Texas Medical Centre in Houston and Brandeis University, Boston till 1980. He returned to India in 1981 and joined Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) as a Pool Officer at their Mysore research unit, Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI). He served the organization for several years and became its director in 1994. He headed the centre for 13 years till his appointment as the director-general of CSIR in December 2006 and was supposed to take charge in January 2007, but did not assume office. In 2008, he was selected as the president of the International Academy of the International Union of Food Science and Technology (IAFoST), a global association of food technologists and held the office till 2010.

He received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, the highest Indian award in the science and technology category in 1996. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri in 2004.