Indian at the Nobel

How many of us know that Al Gore has won the Nobel Peace Prize for his contributions to the environment this year?

- All of us do. :)

How many of us know that he has shared that prize with the UN's Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change ?

- Most of us do.

Now how many of us know that the head of the IPCC is an Indian who was instrumental in the Panel getting the award ?

- Uhh ! well, not many of us I'm sure.

Dr. Rajendra Pachauri has, as the head of the IPCC become the seventh Indian to become a recipient of the Nobel Prize. Though I don't know if officially the credit would go to him or the organisation, but it still is an achievement. :) And yes, he formerly worked with the Tata Energy Research Institute, was born in Nainital and works out of New Delhi.

“I am only a symbolic recipient but it is the organisation which has been awarded,” Dr Rajendra Pachauri says. But then, didn’t Tagore and Mother Teresa get the award for the achievements of Shanti Niketan and Missionaries of Charity?

....

Although Al Gore was reportedly unhappy with the choice of the Indian, who he feared would be a drag on the organisation because of his strident criticism of the United States, Pachauri won him over with his total dedication to the cause of ecology, which is dear to Gore as well.