This was the first national Vigyan awards announced by the government. Till 2023, the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award was India’s top science honour.

The team behind India’s maiden moon landing and a pioneering biochemist were among the 33 scientists honoured with India’s highest science awards announced by the government on Wednesday.

The Vigyan Yuva awardees include Krishna Murthy S L and Swarup Kumar Parida in agriculture, Radhakrishnan Mahalakshmi and Aravind Penmatsa in biological sciences, Vivek Polshettiwar and Vishal Rai in chemistry, Roxy Mathew Koll in earth sciences, Abhilash and Radha Krishna Ganti in engineering sciences, Purabi Saikia and Bappi Paul in environmental science, Mahesh Ramesh Kakde in mathematics and computer science, Jitendra Kumar Sahu and Pragya Dhruv Yadav in medicine, Urbasi Sinha in physics, Digendranath Swain and Prashant Kumar in space science, and Prabhu Rajagopal in technology and innovation.

The science and technology ministry released a consolidated list of final awardees of the first-ever Vigyan Puruskar. The team of Chandrayaan-3 mission won the team award. Biochemist Govindarajan Padmanabhan, former director of the laureate, won the Vigyan Ratna Puraskar, a lifetime achievement award.