Indian scientists working in India do not feature in the list of possible Nobel laureates for 2011 in the field of science.
Thomas Reuters, which publishes a list of possible Nobel laureates before the official list is announced, has included no scientist working in India.
Indian scientists tend to put out very few research papers. According to David Pendlebury, a citation analyst in the Research Services of Thomas Reuters, India has individuals of great talent but they need to do research than can make it to the Nobel.
“As a country, it is important that India develops and invests in research enterprise so that a supportive environment for scientific genius can be nurtured. The Nobel Prize looks at work spanning a decade and more. There could be several contributing factors that have kept work from this country behind,” Mr Pendlebury said.
He says India’s share of research papers fell from three to two per cent of the world percentage in the 1980s. It rose again a decade later but the growth wasn’t robust, “not because Indian papers were less in number, but because papers from other countries were much more”.
This vindicates what Prof C.N.R. Rao has been saying for some time — that India has to do better, both qualitatively and quantitatively in the field of research. The National Research Professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) has time and again stated that with Bengaluru having a large number of scientific institutions, it has the potential to contribute largely on this front but needs investment and the right environment.
Thomas Reuters has been predicting potential Nobel Laureates in physiology, chemistry, physics and economics since 2002, based on citations, prizes, and judgement by experts.
Some 18 of the 24 scientists on the list for the prizes, which will be announced in October, are from the US. Mr Pendlebury clarifies that those on the list are not necessarily those who will be awarded in 2011, but are those who are capable of getting the Nobel Prize at any point.