Winner of this year's Abel Prize in Mathematics, awarded by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and regarded as equivalent to a Nobel Prize in the discipline, India-born and US-based Professor Srinivasa S.R. Varadhan, acknowledged via e-mail a message of greetings and congratulations sent by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, last month, and said "As I receive the award I am very aware that the early education I received in India from high school through college and doctoral studies at ISI, Calcutta, has provided me with the necessary foundation for success."

"For this", Professor Vardhan adds, "I will always be grateful. I hope that I will continue to maintain my contacts and be helpful for the development of mathematical talent in India."

Earlier, In a letter to Professor Varadhan, The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh had said, "I hope your example will inspire a new generation of Indians to pursue the study of mathematics, a discipline to which Indians have made significant contribution since times immemorial. This is not just a personal honour for you but an honour for all Indians and people of Indian origin the world over. Please accept my sincere greetings and best wishes."

Professor Varadhan is presently Frank J. Gould Professor of Science and Professor of Mathematics Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University. He was a student of Madras University and has a doctoral degree from the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. He was awarded the Abel Prize for his work on probability theory and in developing a unified theory of large deviations.