Mysore Ananthamurthy Viswamitra did his PhD (1960) from Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. He was Professor of Physics, IISc, Bangalore and Visiting Professor, University of Cambridge.

Academic and Research Achievements: Viswamitra distinguished himself for his pioneering work on X-ray structural studies of DNA fragments from monomer to oligonucleotides. His work led to the idea of sequence-dependent oligonucleotide conformation, a new concept after 25 years of DNA as a uniform helix. He also carried out pioneering studies on the X-ray structures of nucleotide coenzyme molecules.

Other Contributions: Viswamitra paid special attention to instrumentation, an area in which he himself was an expert. He served as Member of the INSA Council (1990-92).

Awards and Honours: Professor Viswamitra was conferred the CV Raman Award of Acoustical Society of India (1982), JC Bose Award of Hari Om Ashram Trust and UGC (1984), JC Bose Medal by INSA (1986), the TWAS Biology Prize, SS Bhatnagar Medal by INSA (1993), Rameshwardas Birla National Award for Medical Sciences (1988), FICCI award for Life Sciences (1991), National Citizens Award (1998) and Distinguished Alumni Award of IISc, Bangalore (1999). He was elected Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, National Academy of Sciences (India), Allahabad and the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS).