NATIONAL SPORTS AWARDS

NATIONAL SPORTS AWARDS
National Sports Awards are given every year to recognize and reward excellence in sports. These awards are given every year on August 29, National Sports Day. It is the birth anniversary of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand. For the year 2016 the President Pranab Mukherjee honored the following sportspersons with the awards on August 29 in New Delhi.

Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award was given for the first time to four players at a time. The winners are P.V. Sindhu (Badminton), Dipa Karmakar (Gymnastics), Sakshi Malik (Wrestling) and Jitu Rai (Shooting). P.V. Sindhu and Sakshi Malik won medals in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in August 2016.

Arjuna awards were given to 15 players. They are

1. Rajat Chauhan	Archery
2. Lalita Babar	Athletics
3. Sourav Kothari	Billiards &Snooker
4. Shiva Thapa	Boxing
5. Ajinkya Rahane	Cricket
6. Subrata Paul	Football
7. Rani Rampal	Hockey
8. V.R. Raghunath	Hockey
9. Gurpreet Singh	Shooting
10. Apurvi Chandela	Shooting
11. Soumyajit Ghosh	Table Tennis
12. Vinesh Phogat	Wrestling
13. Amit Kumar	Wrestling
14. Sandeep Singh Mann	Para-Athletics
15. Virender Singh	Para-Athletics

Dronacharya Awards were presented to 6 coaches. They are:

1. Nagpuri Ramesh	Athletics
2. Sagar Mal Dhayal	Boxing
3. Raj Kumar Sharma	Cricket
4. Bishweshwar Nandi	Gymnastics
5. S. Pradeep Kumar	Swimming (Lifetime Achievement)
6. Mahabir Singh	Wrestling (Lifetime Achievement)

Dhyan Chand Awards were given to three persons.

1. Satti Geetha	Athletics
2. Sylvanus Dung Dung	Hockey
3. Rajendra Pralhad Shelke	Rowing

Punjabi University, Patiala was presented the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy for the best university. 

Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar is given to corporate entities and individuals who have played a role in the area of sports promotion and development. The recipients are Hockey Citizen Group, Dadar Parsee Zoroastrian Cricket Club, Usha School of Athletics, STAIRS, India Infrastructure Finance Corporate Limited, Reserve Bank of India and Subroto Mukherjee Sports Education Society. 

Rajiv Gandhi Khel RatnaIt is India’s highest Sporting honor. It is named after former Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi. It is awarded annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. The winners are honored for their spectacular and most outstanding performance in the field of sports over a period of four years at international level. The award comprises a medallion, a certificate and a cash prize of Rs 7.5 lakh. It was instituted in 1991-92. The first recipient of the award was Chess Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand. In 2001, shooter Abhinav Bindra became the youngest recipient at the age of 18. As of 2016, there have been 32 recipients of Khel Ratna Award. 

Khel Ratna Award Winners:

Year	Recipient(s)	Discipline
1991-92	Viswanathan Anand	Chess
1992-93	Geet Sethi	Billiards
1993-94	Homi Motivala	Yachting
1993-94	Garg Pushpendra Kumar	Yachting
1994-95	Karanam Malleswari	Weightlifting
1995-96	N. Kunjarani	Weightlifting
1996-97	Leander Paes	Tennis
1997-98	Sachin Tendulkar	Cricket
1998-99	Jyotirmoyee Sikdar	Athletics
1999-2000	Dhanraj Pillay	Hockey
2000-01	Pullela Gopichand	Badminton
2001	Abhinav Bindra	Shooting
2002	K.M. Beenamol	Athletics
2002	Anjali Bhagwat	Shooting
2003	Anju Bobby George	Athletics
2004	Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore	Shooting
2005	Pankaj Advani	Billiards & Snooker
2006	Manavjit Singh Sandhu	Shooting
2007	Mahendra Singh Dhoni	Cricket
2008	No Award	-
2009	Mary Kom	Boxing
2009	Vijender Singh	Boxing
2009	Sushil Kumar	Wrestling
2010	Saina Nehwal	Badminton
2011	Gagan Narang	Shooting
2012	Vijay Kumar	Shooting
2012	Yogeshwar Dutt	Wrestling
2013	Ronjan Sodhi	Shooting
2014	No Award	-
2015	Sania Mirza	Tennis

ARJUNA AWARD
Arjuna awards are given to recognize outstanding achievement in national sports. It was instituted in 1961. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh, a bronze statue of Arjuna and a scroll. More than 700 players are given this award. 

DRONACHARYA AWARD Dronacharya Award is presented for excellence in sports coaching. The award comprises a bronze statue of Dronacharya, a scroll and a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh. It was started in 1985. So far 97 persons won this award. In 2012, B.I. Fernandez became the first foreign coach to get this award. He is a Cuban Boxing coach. The first recipients in 1985 were O.M. Nambiar (Athletics), Om Prakash Bharadwaj (Boxing) and Bhalchandra Bhaskar Bhagwat (Wrestling). 

DHYAN CHAND AWARD
Dhyan Chand Award is given for life time achievement in sports. It is named after former hockey great Dhyan Chand. The award was started in 2002. It carries a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh. So far 48 persons are given Dhyan Chand award. The first winners in 2002 were Aparna Ghosh (Basketball), Ashok Diwan (Hockey) and Shahuraj Birajdar( Boxing). 

Major Dhyan Chand
Dhyan Chand was an Indian hockey player, who is considered as the greatest hockey player of all time. He played a crucial role in India winning three gold medals in the 1928 Amsterdam, 1932 Los Angeles and 1936 Berlin Olympics. He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1956. His birthday, August 29, is celebrated as National Sports Day in India. GOAL is the name of his autobiography. He scored over 400 goals in his career spanning 22 years. National Stadium in New Delhi is named after him as the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in 2002.

ALL ABOUT GRAND SLAM

ALL ABOUT GRAND SLAM
India's tennis sensation Sania Mirza recently created history by becoming the first female player from the country to win a women's doubles Grand Slam trophy as she clinched the Wimbledon title with Swiss partner Martina Hingis. Let us look into the details of Grand Slam.The four most important annual tennis events are called “Grand Slam tournaments". 

They are - 

1. Australian OpenFounded in: 1905
   Dates: last fortnight of January
   Court type: Hard
   Venue: Melbourne Park
   Prize money: 40,000,000 Australian Dollars
   
2. French OpenFounded in: 1891
   Dates: fortnight of late May / early June
   Court type: Clay
   Venue: Stade Roland Garros, Paris
   Prize money: 28,028,600 Euros
   
3. WimbledonFounded in: 1877
   Dates: fortnight of late June / early July
   Court type: Grass
   Venue: All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London
   Prize money: 100,000,000 Pounds
   
4. US OpenFounded in: 1881
   Dates: fortnight of late August / early September
   Court type: Hard
   Venue: USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, New York City
   Prize money: 38,251,760 Dollars

Fact file

• Each tournament is played over a period of two weeks.
• Each tournament contain five events: men's and women's singles; men's, women's, and mixed doubles
• Grand Slam - the achievement of winning all four major championships in a single calendar year within one of the five events.
• Non-Calendar Year Grand Slam -Winning the four majors in consecutive tournaments but not in the same year.
• Career Grand Slam - winning all four majors at any point during the course of a career.
• Golden Grand Slam - Winning the gold medal at the Summer Olympic Games in addition to the four majors in a one calendar year.
• Super Slam - winning the Year-End Championship (known as ATP World Tour Finals for men's singles and doubles disciplines, and WTA Tour Championships for both women's disciplines) in the same period.
• Together, all four Majors in all three disciplines (singles, doubles, and mixed doubles) are called a "boxed set" of Grand Slam titles.

2015 Winners

	Men's singles	Women's singles	Men's doubles	Women's doubles	Mixed doubles
Australian Open	Novak Djokovic (Serbia)	Serena Williams (USA)	Simone Bolelli /Fabio Fognini (Italy)	Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) / Lucie Šafárová (Czech Republic)	Martina Hingis (Switzerland)/ Leander Paes (India)
French Open	Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland)	Serena Williams (USA)	Ivan Dodig (Croatia) / Marcelo Melo (Brazil)	Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) / Lucie Šafárová (Czech Republic)	Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/ Mike Bryan (USA)
Wimbeldon	Novak Djokovic (Serbia)	Serena Williams (USA)	Jean-Julien Rojer (Netherlands)/ Horia Tecau (Romania)	Martina Hingis (Switzerland)/ Sania Mirza (India)	Leander Paes (India)/ Martina Hingis (Switzerland)
US Open	Novak Djokovic (Serbia)	Flavia Pennetta (Italy)	Pierre-Hugues Herbert (France)/ Nicolas Mahut (France)	Martina Hingis (Switzerland)/ Sania Mirza (India)	Leander Paes (India)/ Martina Hingis (Switzerland)

ASIAN GAMES: A FACT FILE

ASIAN GAMES: A FACT FILE
The 2014 Asian Games were held in Incheon, South Korea from September 19 — October 4, 2014. China topped the medals table for the ninth time followed by South Korea and Japan. China won 151 gold medals ahead of the 79 won by host South Korea. Most Valuable Player award was won by Japanese swimmer Kosuke Hagino, who won seven medals including four individual gold medals. India finished eighth with 11 gold, 10 silver and 36 bronze. 

Some of the Highlights of Indian performances in Asian Games 2014:

• » India's performance in Incheon went slightly down from 14 gold medals to 11 compared to Guangzhou 2010.
• » Four of the gold medals came in athletics (two) and kabaddi (two) while archery, boxing, hockey, shooting, squash, tennis and wrestling accounted for the rest.
• » In shooting Jitu Rai won the first gold for India by beating the strong contenders like Wang Zhiwei of China and reigning world champion Jongoh of South Korea to win the gold.
• » Yogeshwar Dutt ended India's 28-year-old gold medal drought in the wrestling to win the men's freestyle 65kg gold.
• » In tennis Sania and Saketh Myneni won the a mixed doubles gold.
• » After 16 years India won the Gold medal in Asian Games men's hockey tournament, and consequently earned a direct berth to the 2016 Summer Olympics hockey tournament.
• » India completed a twin gold on the kabaddi after the men and women team defeated Iran.
• » Indian men's squash team won a historic Asian Games gold medal beating Malaysia 2-0.
• » In the closing ceremony the OCA flag were handed over to the people's representatives of the next Games in 2018 to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia.
• » Spotted seal siblings ‘Three Spotted Seal Siblings’ was the official mascot of the Games in Songdo Island, Incheon. The three seals, known as "Barame ", "Chumuro" and "Vichuon ", means wind, dance and light in Korean language, is in accordance with the theme of main venue.

Top Ten Countries Medal Tally-Asian Games 2014

Rank	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	151	108	83	342
2	Korea	79	71	84	234
3	Japan	47	76	77	200
4	Kazakhstan	28	23	33	84
5	Iran	21	18	18	57
6	Thailand	12	7	28	47
7	DPR Korea	11	11	14	36
8	India	11	10	36	57
9	Chinese Taipei	10	18	23	51
10	Qatar	10	0	4	14

17th ASIAN GAMES 2014Duration: September 19, 2014 - October 4, 2014 (16 days)
Venues: In and around Incheon Metropolitan City, South Korea
Participants: About 13,000 athletes and officials and about 7,000 media from the 45 OCA member states
Host: The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA)
Organizer: The 2014 Incheon Asian Games Organizing Committee (IAGOC)
No. of Sports: 36

ASIAN GAMES 2014 Sports:Aquatics, Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Boxing, Canoe and Kayak, Cycling, Equestrian, Fencing, Football, Golf, Gymnastics, Handball, Hockey, Judo, Modern Pentathlon, Rowing, Rugby, Sailing, Shooting, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Triathlon, Volleyball, Weightlifting, Wrestling, Baseball, Bowling, Cricket, Kabaddi, Karate, Sepaktakraw, Squash, Wushu

ASIAN GAMES 2014: Indian Medal WinnersList of Gold Medalists for India: (11)

• » Jitu Rai: Men's 50 metre pistol shooting
• » Sandeep Kumar, Rajat Chauhan, Abhishek Verma: Men's compound team archery
• » Saurav Ghosal, Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu, Mahesh Mangaonkar, Kumar Kush: Men's team squash
• » Yogeshwar Dutt: Men's freestyle 65 kg wrestling
• » Seema Punia: Women's discuses throw athletics
• » Sania Mirza, Saketh Myneni:Mixed doubles tennis
• » M.C. Mary Kom: Women's 48-51 kg boxing
• » Indian team: Men's hockey
• » Priyanka Panwar, Tintu Luka, Mandeep Kaur, M. Poovamma:Women's 4X400m relay athletics
• » Indian team: Women's kabaddi
• » Indian team: Men's kabaddi

List of Silver Medalists for India: (10)

• » Saurav Ghosal: Men's singles squash
• » Pemba Tamang, Gurpreet Singh, Vijay Kumar: Men's 25m centre fire pistol team shooting
• » Dipika Pallikal, Joshna Chinappa, Anaka Alankamony:Women's team squash
• » Abhishek Verma: Men's individual compound archery
• » Khushbir Kaur: Women's 20 km race walk athletics
• » Saketh Myneni, Sanam Singh:Men's doubles tennis
• » Bajrang Kumar: Men's freestyle 61 kg wrestling
• » Vikas Gowda: Men's discus throws athletics
• » Tintu Luka: Women's 800m athletics
• » Manju Bala: Women's hammer throws athletics

List of Bronze Medalists for India: (36)

• » Shweta Chaudhary: Women's 10 metre pistol shooting
• » Jitu Rai, Samaresh Jung, Prakash Nanjappa: Men's 10 metre air pistol team shooting
• » Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, P.C. Thulasi, Pradnya Gadre, N. Siki Reddy, Ashwini Ponnappa, Tanvi Lad: Women's team badminton
• » Rahi Sarnobat, Anisa Sayyed, Heena Sidhu: Women's 25 metre pistol team shooting
• » Dipika Pallikal: Women's singles squash
• » Abhinav Bindra, Ravi Kumar, Sanjeev Rajput: Men's 10 metre air rifle team shooting
• » Abhinav Bindra: Men's 10 metre air rifle shooting
• » Yumnam Sanathoi Devi:Women's sanda -52 kg wushu
• » Narendra Grewal: Men's sanda -60 kg wushu
• » Dushyant Chauhan: Men's lightweight single sculls rowing
• » Sawarn Singh: Men's single sculls rowing
• » Kapil Sharma, Ranjit Singh, Bajrang Lal Thakhar, Robin Ulahannan, Sawan Kumar Kalkal, Mohammad Azad, Maninder Singh, Davinder Singh, Mohammed Ahmed: men's eight rowing
• » Shagun Chowdhary, Shreyasi Singh, Varsha Varman: Women's double trap team shooting
• » Sandeep Sejwal: Men's 50m breaststroke swimming
• » Purvasha Sudhir, Surekha Vennam, Trisha Deb: Women's compound team archery
• » Chain Singh: Men's 50m rifle 3 positions shooting
• » Trisha Deb: Women's individual compound archery
• » Vinesh Phogat: Women's freestyle 48 kg wrestling
• » Geetika Jakhar: Women's freestyle 63 kg wrestling
• » Lalita Babar: Women's 3,000m steeplechase athletics
• » Yuki Bhambri: Men's singles tennis
• » Yuki Bhambri, Divij Sharan:Men's doubles tennis
• » Sania Mirza, Prarthana Thombare: Women's double tennis
• » M. Poovamma: Women's 400m athletics
• » Arokia Rajiv: Men's 400m athletics
• » O.P. Jaisha: Women's 1,500m athletics
• » Narsingh Pancham Yadav:Men's freestyle 74 kg wrestling
• » Naveen Kumar: Men's 3,000m steeplechase athletics
• » L. Sarita Devi: Women's 57-60 kg boxing
• » Pooja Rani: 75 kg boxing
• » Varsha Gautam, Aishwarya Nedunchezhiyan: Women's 29er two person dinghy sailing
• » India: Women's hockey
• » Annu Rani: Women's javelin throw athletics
• » Satish Kumar: Men's +91 kg boxing
• » Vikas Krishan: Men's 75 kg boxing
• » Inderjeet Singh: Men's shot put athletics

First Asian Games: 

• » The first Asian Games began on March 4, 1951 in New Delhi.
• » The Asian Games Association has choosen shining sun as its symbol.
• » The AGF (Asian Games Federation) adopted 'Ever Onward', given by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, as the motto of the Asian Games.
• » The emblem of Asian Games is a 'bright full rising sun' with interlocking rings.
• » The Maharaja of Patiala presented the Torch and the flag for the first Asian Games and since then they have been carried from country to country.

History of Asian Games: The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, described as the second largest multi-sport event after the Olympic Games held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games have been organized by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), and are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). 

Asian Games Federation in 1949, succeeding the Far Eastern Championship Games held in Manila, the Philippines, in 1913 and the West Asian Games held in New Delhi, India, in 1934. 

The West Asian Games were held in New Delhi, India, in 1934, and were participated in by India, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Palestine. In 1948, when the 14th London Olympic Games were held, six countries including Korea, the Philippines, Myanmar, India, Taiwan and Sri Lanka gathered and decided to host a combined Asian games. This led to the establishment of the AGF (Asian Games Federation) operated by National Olympic Committees in 1949.

Asian Games Host Cities: 

No.	Host Country	Host City	Year Held
16	China	Guangzhou	2010
15	Qatar	Doha	2006
14	Korea	Busan	2002
13	Thailand	Bangkok	1998
12	Japan	Hiroshima	1994
11	China	Beijing	1990
10	Korea	Seoul	1986
9	India	New Delhi	1982
8	Thailand	Bangkok	1978
7	Iran	Tehran	1974
6	Thailand	Bangkok	1970
5	Thailand	Bangkok	1966
4	Indonesia	Jakarta	1962
3	Japan	Tokyo	1958
2	Philippines	Manila	1954
1	India	New Delhi	1951

NOBEL PRIZES IN 2017 VIDEO LECTURE

NOBEL PRIZES IN 2017 VIDEO LECTURE
Intensive video lecture for 2017 Nobel Prizes which are announced in October 2017 was updated. This video caters for all competitive exams including Groups, Civils, DSC, Banks, Insurance, SSC, Railway, Police exams etc.

Highlights of the Lecture

• The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was announced on Monday, 2nd October 2017. Awarded to Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young "for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm".
• The Nobel Prize in Physics was announced on Tuesday, 3 October 2017. Awarded to Rainer Weiss, Barry C. Barish and Kip S.Thorne "for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves".
• The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was announced on Wednesday, 4 October 2017. Awarded to Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson "for developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution".
• The Nobel Prize in Literature was announced on Thursday, 5 October 2017. Awarded to Kazuo Ishiguro "who, in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world".
• The Nobel Peace Prize was announced on Friday, 6 October 2017. Awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).
• The Nobel Peace Prize in Economic Sciences was announced on Monday 9 October 2017. awarded to Richard H. Thaler "for his contributions to behavioural economics".

OSCARS IN 2017 WINNERS LIST

OSCARS IN 2017 WINNERS LIST
The 89th Academy Awards popularly known as Oscars were presented at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, US. Here is the list of Oscars winners:Best Picture - 'Moonlight' by Adele Romanski, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner
Best Actress in a Leading Role -Emma Stone for 'La La Land'
Best Actor in a Leading Role - Casey Affleck for 'Manchester By The Sea'
Best Director - Damien Chazelle for 'La La Land'
Best Adapted Screenplay - Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney for 'Moonlight'
Best Original Screenplay - Kenneth Lonergan for 'Manchester By The Sea'
Best Original Song - 'City Of Stars' from 'La La Land' by Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
Best Original Score - Justin Hurwitz for 'La La Land'
Best Cinematography - Linus Sandgren for 'La La Land'
Best Live Action Short - 'Sing' by Kristof Deak and Anna Udvardy
Best Documentary Short - 'The White Helmets' by Orlando Von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara
Best Film Editing - John Gilbert for 'Hacksaw Ridge'
Best Visual Effects - Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R Jones and Dan Lemmon for 'The Jungle Book'
Best Production Design - David Wasco and Sandy Reynolds-Wasco for 'La La Land'
Best Animated Feature - 'Zootopia' by Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Clark Spencer
Best Animated Short - 'Piper' by Alan Barillaro and Marc Sondheimer
Best Foreign Language Film - 'The Salesman' by Asghar Farhadi
Best Actress in a Supporting Role -Viola Davis for 'Fences'
Best Sound Mixing - Kevin O'Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and Peter Grace for 'Hacksaw Ridge'
Best Sound Editing - Sylvian Bellemare for 'Arrival'
Best Documentary Feature - Ezra Edelman and Caroline Waterlow for 'O J: Made In America'

NOBEL PRIZES IN 2016 LIST

NOBEL PRIZES IN 2016 LIST

» Nobel Peace Prize 2016Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos won the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos won the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize on 7th October for his efforts to end a 52-year-old war with Marxist rebels.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee said Santos had brought one of the longest civil wars in modern history significantly closer to a peaceful solution, but there was still a danger the peace process could collapse.

The award excluded FARC guerrilla leader Rodrigo Londono, better known by his nom de guerre Timochenko, who signed the peace accord with Santos in Cartagena on September 26.

Millions have been displaced and many beg on the streets of the capital, while economic potential has been held up in the mostly rural nation.

Santos is the first Latin American to receive the peace prize since indigenous rights campaigner Rigoberta Menchu of Guatemala won in 1992, and is the second Colombian laureate after writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who won the literature prize in 1982.

The scion of one of Colombia's most prosperous families, Santos was not thought likely to spearhead a peace process with FARC (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia).

But though he had served as defence minister under hardline ex-president Alvaro Uribe, when the FARC were weakened by a US-backed offensive, Santos used his two terms in office to open negotiations with rebel leadership at four-year-long talks.

His family once owned leading Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, where Santos worked as an editor before turning to politics. He also trained as an economist at the London School of Economics.

He was finance minister in the 1990s, helping to steer the Andean nation through one of its worst fiscal crises.

The Colombian government had hoped peace with FARC would lead to a boom in investment by commodities investors, in gold mines, oil and agriculture in Latin America's fourth-largest economy. The Nobel Peace Prize, worth 8 million Swedish crowns ($930,000), will be presented in Oslo on December 10.

» Nobel Physics Prize 2016David Thouless, Duncan Haldane and Michael Kosterlitz get Nobel Prize in Physics British scientists David Thouless, Duncan Haldane and Michael Kosterlitz have won the 2016 Nobel Prize in physics. The three, who are affiliated with U.S. universities, were honored for their work on “theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter.”

The three Laureates’ use of topological concepts in physics was decisive for their discoveries. Topology is a branch of mathematics that describes properties that only change step-wise. Using topology as a tool, they were able to astound the experts. In the early 1970s, Michael Kosterlitz and David Thouless overturned the then current theory that superconductivity or suprafluidity could not occur in thin layers. They demonstrated that superconductivity could occur at low temperatures and also explained the mechanism, phase transition that makes superconductivity disappear at higher temperatures.

In the 1980s, Thouless was able to explain a previous experiment with very thin electrically conducting layers in which conductance was precisely measured as integer steps. He showed that these integers were topological in their nature. At around the same time, Duncan Haldane discovered how topological concepts can be used to understand the properties of chains of small magnets found in some materials.

» Nobel Chemistry Prize 2016Jean-Pierre Sauvage, J Fraser Stoddart Bernard Feringa win Nobel Chemistry Prize for developing molecular machinesFrenchman Jean-Pierre Sauvage, British-born J Fraser Stoddart and Dutch scientist Bernard Feringa won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for developing molecular machines.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the laureates share the 930,000 US dollars prize for the design and synthesis of molecules with controllable movements, which can perform a task when energy is added.

» Nobel Prize in Medicine 2016Japanese scientist Yoshinori Ohsumi wins 2016 Nobel Prize in Medicine
 Japanese scientist Yoshinori Ohsumi was awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Medicine on 3rd October for discoveries related to the degrading and recycling of cellular components.

The Karolinska Institute honoured Ohsumi for "brilliant experiments" in the 1990s on autophagy, the machinery with which cells recycle their content.

Disrupted autophagy has been linked to various diseases, including Parkinson's, diabetes and cancer. Ohsumi's work has led to a better understanding of how the human body adapts to starvation, infection and other conditions.

Though the concept has been known for more than 50 years, its "fundamental importance in physiology and medicine was only recognized after Yoshinori Ohsumi's paradigm-shifting research in the 1990s," Karolinska said in its citation. Ohsumi was born in 1945 in Fukuoka. He is currently a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. It was the 107th award in the medicine category since the first Nobel Prizes were handed out in 1905. The Nobel Prize is worth the equivalent of about $1.224 million Cdn (eight million kronor).

» Nobel Prize in Economics 2016Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmstrom Win Nobel in Economics for Work on Contracts
Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmstrom were awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science for their work on improving the design of contracts, the deals that bind together employers and their workers, or companies and their customers.

Dr. Holmstrom, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has had a particular influence on executive pay practices. Dr. Hart, a professor at Harvard, has contributed to the debate about the outsourcing of public services like prisons and garbage collection.

“Modern economies are held together by innumerable contracts,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awarded the prize, said Monday morning. “Their analysis of optimal contractual arrangements lays an intellectual foundation for designing policies and institutions in many areas, from bankruptcy legislation to political constitutions.”

» Nobel Prize for literature in 2016
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan got Nobel Prize for literature in 2016. According to Nobel Committee, Dylan was being honoured for “having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.”

Dylan is the first American to win the award since the novelist Toni Morrison won in 1993. Dylan had won 11 Grammys, an Academy Award, a Pulitzer citation and a Presidential Medal for Freedom.

Alfred Nobel, the Man behind the Nobel Prize:
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been honoring men and women from all corners of the globe for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and for work in peace. In 1968, Sveriges Riksbank (Sweden's central bank) established The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel.

Few Facts on Alfred Nobel:Known for: The inventor of dynamite and holder of 355 patents
Born: 21 October 1833
Died: 10 December 1896
Languages: Spoke five languages fluently at the age of 17
Professions: Swedish chemist, inventor, engineer, entrepreneur, business man, author and pacifist
Fortune: In his will he left 31 million SEK (today about 265 million dollar) to fund the Nobel prizes

» About the Nobel Prize:
 On 27 November 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his last will and testament, giving the largest share of his fortune to a series of prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Peace - the Nobel Prizes. In 1968, Sveriges Riksbank (Sweden's central bank) established The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

At the Nobel Prize Award Ceremonies the Nobel Laureates receive three things: a Nobel Diploma, a Nobel Medal and a document confirming the Nobel Prize amount.

Between 1901 and 2013, the Nobel Prizes and the Prize in Economic Sciences were awarded 561 times which include 45 times to women.

 Nobel Prizes - IndiaIndian citizen laureatesThe following are Nobel laureates who were Indian citizens at the time they were awarded the prize. 

 

Year of Award	Laureates	Subject	Description
1913	Rabindranath Tagore	Literature	As a British Indian subject, knighted in 1913, renounced in 1919 in protest over the Jalianwala Bagh Massacre.
1930	C. V. Raman	Physics	Knighted (as a British Indian subject) in 1929.
1979	Mother Teresa	Peace	An ethnic Albanian from the region of Yugoslavia now in the Republic of Macedonia; became a naturalised Indian citizen in 1948.
1998	Amartya Sen	Economics
2014	Kailash Satyarthi	Peace	Face of the Indian movement Bachpan Bachao Andolan against child labour since the 1990s

Laureates of Indian birth and origin who were erstwhile Indian citizensThe following are Nobel laureates of Indian birth and origin who subsequently took foreign citizenship; however, they are still often included in lists of Indian Nobel laureates

Year of Award	Laureates	Subject	Notes
1968	Har Gobind Khorana	Medicine	Acquired U.S. citizenship in 1966.
1983	Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar	Physics	Acquired U.S citizenship in 1953. Nephew of C.V. Raman, the recipient of the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics.
2009	Venkatraman Ramakrishnan	Chemistry	Dual British and U.S citizen.

Laureates with Indian connections The following are Nobel laureates with Indian connections - those of Indian birth or descent or those who were resident in India when they were awarded the prize.

Year of Award	Laureates	Subject		Description
1902	Ronald Ross		Medicine	Indian-born; British citizen
1907	Rudyard Kipling		Literature	Indian-born; British citizen
1989	14th Dalai Lama		Peace	Tibetan religious leader; exiled to India in 1959.
2001	V. S. Naipaul		Literature	Trinidadian-born person of Indian origin; British citizen

The Youngest Nobel Laureates Category wise

Category	Name	Year of Award	Age of Nobel Laureate
Physics	William Lawrence Bragg	1915	25
Chemistry	Frederic Joliot	1935	35
Physiology or Medicine	Frederick Banting	1923	32
Literature	Rudyard Kipling	1907	42
Peace	Tawakkol Karman	2011	32
Economic Sciences	Kenneth J. Arrow	1972	51

Two Nobel Laureates have declined the Nobel Prize:Jean-Paul Sartre, awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature, declined the prize because he had consistently declined all official honours.

Le Duc Tho, awarded the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. They were awarded the Prize for negotiating the Vietnam peace accord. Le Doc Tho said that he was not in a position to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, citing the situation in Vietnam as his reason.

Forced to Decline the Nobel Prize:Four Nobel Laureates have been forced by authorities to decline the Nobel Prize. Adolf Hitler forbade three German Nobel Laureates, Richard Kuhn, Adolf Butenandt and Gerhard Domagk, from accepting the Nobel Prize. All of them could later receive the Nobel Prize Diploma and Medal, but not the prize amount.

Boris Pasternak, the 1958 Nobel Laureate in Literature, initially accepted the Nobel Prize but was later coerced by the authorities of the Soviet Union, his native country, to decline the Nobel Prize.

Under Arrest at the Time of the Award:German pacifist and journalist Carl von Ossietzky, Burmese politician Aung San Suu Kyi and Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo have been under arrest at the time of the award.

Family Noble Laureates:  The Curies were a very successful 'Nobel Prize family'. Marie Curie herself was awarded two Nobel Prizes and the Curie family winning five: Pierre and Marie for Physics in 1901; Marie solo for Chemistry in 1911; daughter Irene and her husband Frederic Joliot-Curie for Chemistry in 1935; and Henry Labouisse, who was married to Pierre and Marie's daughter Eve, accepted on behalf of UNICEF in 1965.

The following are the list of families winning Nobel Prize:Married couplesMarie Curie, Pierre Curie
Irene Joliot-Curie, Frederic Joliot
Gerty Cori , Carl Cori
May-Britt Moser, Edvard I. Moser 
Alva Myrdal, Gunnar Myrdal 

Mother & daughterMarie Curie, Irene Joliot-Curie

Father & daughterPierre Curie, Irene Joliot-Curie

Father & sonWilliam Bragg, Lawrence Bragg 
Niels Bohr, Aage N. Bohr 
Hans von Euler-Chelpin, Ulf von Euler
Arthur Kornberg, Roger D. Kornberg 
Manne Siegbahn, Kai M. Siegbahn 
J. J. Thomson, George Paget Thomson

BrothersJan Tinbergen, Nikolaas Tinbergen

OSCARS AWARDS IN 2016

OSCARS AWARDS IN 2016
The 88th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2015 and took place on February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles»Best Picture: Spotlight
»Best Actor in a Lead Role: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
»Best Actress in a Lead Role: Brie Larson, Room
»Best Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu, The Revenant
»Best Original Score: Ennio Morricone, The Hateful Eight
»Best Original Song: "Writings on the Wall," Spectre, Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith
»Best Foreign Language Film:Hungary, Son of Saul
»Best Live Action Short Film:Stutterer, Benjamin Cleary and Serena Armitage
»Best Documentary Feature: Amy, Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees
»Best Documentary Short Subject: A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
»Best Actor in a Supporting Role:Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
»Best Animated Feature Film: Inside Out, Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera
»Best Animated Short Film: Bear Story, Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala
»Best Visual Effects: Ex Machina, Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett
»Best Sound Mixing: Mad Max: Fury Road, Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff and Ben Osmo
»Best Sound Editing: Mad Max: Fury Road, Mark Mangini and David White
»Best Film Editing: Mad Max: Fury Road, Margaret Sixel
»Best Cinematography: The Revenant, Emmanuel Lubezki
»Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Mad Max: Fury Road, Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega and Damian Martin
»Best Production Design: Mad Max: Fury Road
»Best Costume Design: Mad Max: Fury Road, Jenny Beavan
»Best Actress in a Supporting Role:Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
»Best Adapted Screenplay: The Big Short, Charles Randolph and Adam McKay
»Best Original Screenplay: Spotlight, Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy
»Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award:Debbie Reynolds
»Honorary Oscar: Spike Lee
»Honorary Oscar: Gena Rowlands

PADMA AWARDS IN 2016

PADMA AWARDS IN 2016
Padma Awards - one of the highest Civilian Awards of the country, are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.

Padma Awards are given in various disciplines and fields of activities, including art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education.

‘Padma Vibhushan’ is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service, ‘Padma Bhushan’ for distinguished service of high order and ‘Padma Shri’ for distinguished service in any field.

A total of 112 people have been selected for the Padma awards 2016. The list comprises of 10 Padma Vibhushan, 19 Padma Bhushan and 83 Padma Shri Awardees. 19 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 10 persons from the category of foreigners, NRIs, PIOs (include one posthumous) and 4 Posthumous awardees.

The awards are conferred by the President as ceremonial functions held at Rashtrapati Bhawan around March-April every year.

Padma Vibhushan

Sl. No	Name	Field	State
1.	Ms. Yamini Krishnamurthi	Art- Classical dance	Delhi
2.	Shri Rajinikanth	Art-Cinema	Tamil Nadu
3.	Smt. Girija Devi	Art-Classical Vocal	West Bengal
4.	Shri Ramoji Rao	Literature & Education-Journalism	Andhra Pradesh
5.	Dr. Viswanathan Shanta	Medicine- Oncology	Tamil Nadu
6.	Shri Shri Ravi Shankar	Others-Spiritualism	Karnataka
7.	Shri Jagmohan	Public Affairs	Delhi
8.	Dr.Vasudev Kalkunte Aatre	Science & Engineering	Karnataka
9.	Shri Avinash Dixit (Foreigner)	Literature & Education	USA
10.	Late Shri Dhiru Bhai Ambani (Posthumous)	Trade & Industry	Maharashtra

Padma Bhushan

Sl. No.	Name	Field	State
11.	Shri Anupam Kher	Art-Cinema	Maharashtra
12.	Shri Udit Narayan Jha	Art-Playback Singing	Maharashtra
13.	Shri Ram V. Sutar	Art-Sculpture	Uttar Pradesh
14.	Shri Heisnam Kanhailal	Art-Theatre	Manipur
15.	Shri Vinod Rai	Civil Service	Kerala
16.	Dr. Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad	Literature & Education	Andhra Pradesh
17.	Prof. N. S. Ramanuja Tatacharya	Literature & Education	Maharashtra
18.	Dr. Barjinder Singh Hamdard	Literature & Education - Journalism	Punjab
19.	Prof. D. Nageshwar Reddy	Medicine-Gastroenterology	Telangana
20.	Swami Tejomayananda	Other-Spiritualism	Maharashtra
21.	Shri Hafeez Contractor	Others-Architecture	Maharashtra
22.	Shri Ravindra Chandra Bhargava	Public Affairs	Uttar Pradesh
23.	Dr.Venkata Rama Rao Alla	Science & Engineering	Andhra Pradesh
24.	Ms. Saina Nehwal	Sports-Badminton	Telangana
25.	Ms. Sania Mirza	Sports-Tennis	Telangana
26.	Ms. Indu Jain	Trade & Industry	Delhi
27.	Late Swami Dayanand Sarawasati (Posthumous)	Others-Spiritualism	Uttarakhand
28.	Shri Robert Blackwill (Foreigner)	Public Affairs	USA
29.	Shri Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry (NRI/PIO)	Trade & Industry	Ireland

Padma Shri 

Sl. No	Name	Field	State
30.	Smt. Prathibha Prahlad	Art- Classical Dance	Delhi
31.	Shri Bhikhudan Gadhvi	Art- Folk Music	Gujarat
32.	Shri Sribhas Chandra Supakar	Art- Textile Designing	Uttar Pradesh
33.	Shri Ajay Devgn	Art-Cinema	Maharashtra
34.	Ms. Priyanka Chopra	Art-Cinema	Maharashtra
35.	Pt. Tulsidas Borkar	Art-Classical Music	Goa
36.	Dr. Soma Ghosh	Art-Classical Vocal	Uttar Pradesh
37.	Shri Nila Madhab Panda	Art-Film Direction and Production	Delhi
38.	Shri S.S. Rajamouli	Art-Film Direction and Production	Karnataka
39.	Shri Madhur Bhandarkar	Art-Film Direction and Production	Maharashtra
40.	Prof. M. Venkatesh Kumar	Art-Folk Artist	Karnataka
41.	Ms. Gulabi Sapera	Art-Folk Dance	Rajasthan
42.	Smt. Mamta Chandrakar	Art-Folk Music	Chhattisgarh
43.	Ms. Malini Awasthi	Art-Folk Music	Uttar Pradesh
44.	Shri Jai Prakash Lekhiwal	Art-Miniature Painting	Delhi
45.	Shri K. Laxma Goud	Art-Painting	Telangana
46.	Shri Bhalchandra Dattatray Mondhe	Art-Photography	Madhya Pradesh
47.	Shri Naresh Chander Lal	Art-Theatre & Cinema	Andaman & Nicobar
48.	Shri Dhirendra Nath Bezbaruah	Literature & Education	Assam
49.	Shri Prahlad Chandra Tasa	Literature & Education	Assam
50.	Dr.Ravindra Nagar	Literature & Education	Delhi
51.	Shri Dahyabhai Shastri	Literature & Education	Gujarat
52.	Dr.Santeshivara Bhyrappa	Literature & Education	Karnataka
53.	Shri Haldar Nag	Literature & Education	Odisha
54.	Shri Kameshwaram Brahma	Literature & Education -Journalism	Assam
55.	Prof. Pushpesh Pant	Literature & Education-Journalism	Delhi
56.	Shri Jawaharlal Kaul	Literature & Education-Journalism	Jammu & Kashmir
57.	Shri Ashok Malik	Literature &Education	Delhi
58.	Dr.Mannam Gopi Chand	Medicine-Cardio Thoracic Surgery	Telangana
59.	Prof. Ravi Kant	Medicine-Surgery	Uttar Pradesh
60.	Prof. Ram Harsh Singh	Medicine- Ayurveda	Uttar Pradesh
61.	Prof. Shiv Narain Kureel	Medicine- Paediatric Surgery	Uttar Pradesh
62.	Dr.Sabya Sachi Sarkar	Medicine –Radiology	Uttar Pradesh
63.	Dr. Alla Gopala Krishna Gokhale	Medicine-Cardiac Surgery	Andhra Pradesh
64.	Prof. T.K. Lahiri	Medicine-Cardio Thoracic Surgery	Uttar Pradesh
65.	Dr. Praveen Chandra	Medicine-Cardiology	Delhi
66.	Prof. (Dr) Daljeet Singh Gambhir	Medicine-Cardiology	Uttar Pradesh
67.	Dr.Chandrasekar Shesadri Thoguluva	Medicine-Gastroenterology	Tamil Nadu
68.	Dr. (Mrs.) Anil Kumari Malhotra	Medicine-Homeopathy	Delhi
69.	Prof. M.V. Padma Srivastava	Medicine-Neurology	Delhi
70.	Dr. Sudhir V. Shah	Medicine-Neurology	Gujarat
71.	Dr. M. M. Joshi	Medicine-Ophthalmology	Karnataka
72.	Prof. (Dr) John Ebnezar	Medicine-Orthopaedic Surgery	Karnataka
73.	Dr. Nayudamma Yarlagadda	Medicine-Paediatric Surgery	Andhra Pradesh
74.	Shri Simon Oraon	Other –Environment Conservation	Jharkhand
75.	Shri Imitiaz Qureshi	Other-Culinary	Delhi
76.	Shri Piyush Pandey	Others-Advertising & Communication	Maharashtra
77.	Shri Subhash Palekar	Others-Farming	Maharashtra
78.	Shri Ravinder Kumar Sinha	Others-Wildlife Conservation	Bihar
79.	Dr. H.R. Nagendra	Others-Yoga	Karnataka
80.	Shri M. C. Mehta	Public Affairs	Delhi
81.	Shri M. N. Krishna Mani	Public Affairs	Delhi
82.	Shri Ujjwal Nikam	Public Affairs	Maharashtra
83.	Shri Tokheho Sema	Public Affairs	Nagaland
84.	Dr. Satish Kumar	Science & Engineering	Delhi
85.	Dr.Mylswamy Annadurai	Science & Engineering	Karnataka
86.	Prof. Dipankar Chatterji	Science & Engineering	Karnataka
87.	Prof.(Dr.) Ganapati Dadasaheb Yadav	Science & Engineering	Maharashtra
88.	Smt. (Prof.) Veena Tandon	Science & Engineering	Meghalaya
89.	Shri Onkar Nath Srivastava	Science and Engineering	Uttar Pradesh
90.	Ms. Sunita Krishnan	Social Work	Andhra Pradesh
91.	Shri Ajoy Kumar Dutta	Social Work	Assam
92.	Shri M. Pandit Dasa	Social Work	Karnataka
93.	Shri P. P. Gopinathan Nair	Social Work	Kerala
94.	Smt. Madeleine Herman de Blic	Social Work	Puducherry
95.	Shri Srinivasan Damal Kandalai	Social work	Tamil Nadu
96.	Shri Sudhakar Olwe	Social Work	Maharashtra
97.	Dr. T.V. Narayana	Social Work	Telangana
98.	Shri Arunachalam Murugantham	Social Work	Tamil Nadu
99.	Ms. Deepika Kumari	Sports-Archery	Jharkhand
100.	Shri Sushil Doshi	Sports-commentary	Madhya Pradesh
101.	Shri Mahesh Sharma	Trade & Industry	Delhi
102.	Shri Saurabh Srivastava	Trade & Industry	Delhi
103.	Sh Dilip Sanghvi	Trade & Industry	Maharashtra
104.	Dr. Keki Hormusji Gharda	Trade & Industry	Maharashtra
105.	Late Shri Prakash Chand Surana (Posthumous)	Art -Classical Music	Rajasthan
106.	Late Shri Saeed Jaffrey (NRI/PIO/Posthumous)	Art-Cinema	UK
107.	Shri Michael Postel (Foreigner)	Art-Archaeology	France
108.	Shri Salman Amin Sal Khan (NRI/PIO)	Literature & Education	USA
109.	Smt. Hui Lan Zhang (Foreigner)	Others-Yoga	China
110.	Shri Predrag K. Nikic (Foreigner)	Others-Yoga	Serbia
111.	Dr.Sundar Aditya Menon (NRI/PIO)	Social Work	UAE
112.	Shri Ajaypal Singh Banga (NRI/PIO)	Trade & Industry	USA