Chennai-born scientist wins prestigious Crafoord Prize in geosciences
Veerabhadran Ramanathan, born in Madurai and raised in Chennai and now at UC San Diego, just bagged the 2026 Crafoord Prize in Geosciences—one of the top global science honors.
The award (with about $900,000 prize money) recognizes his work on how certain gasses and aerosols are heating up our planet.
Ramanathan's groundbreaking research on climate change
Back in the '70s, Ramanathan discovered that CFCs trap way more heat than CO2—like 10,000 times more!
He also led research showing South Asia's brown clouds are messing with monsoons and speeding up Himalayan glacier melt.
His findings have shaped major climate policies worldwide, including the Montreal Protocol.
As he puts it: This prize shows that climate science is based on the best possible observations and fundamental principles of physics and chemistry.
Basically, his work helps us see that fighting climate change means looking beyond just CO2—it's about all kinds of pollution affecting our future.