PTI

New York, Jul 9: The Indian-American scientist, who first compared the movements of atoms in glass to the wiggling of jellyfish in water, has won the top award in the field of glass science.

Himanshu Jain, director of the International Materials Institute for New Functionalities in Glass (IMI) at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, received the Otto Schott Research Award on July 2, at the International Congress on Glass in Strasbourg, France.

The biennial award, which carries a cash prize of USD 34,055 (25,000 Euros), is the most prestigious prize for glass research. Jain, a professor of materials science and engineering at Lehigh, shares the award with Walter Kob of the University of Montpellier in France.

The citation described Jain's research as "outstanding work towards advancing fundamental understanding of the movements of atoms inside glass".

The Donors' Association for the Promotion of Science in Germany, which administers the Schott award, also noted with appreciation Jain's research into unique light-induced phenomena in glass, his studies of the corrosion of glass in nuclear environments, and his work with sensors, infrared optics, waveguides, photolithography, nanolithography and other photonic applications of glass.

Jain says he was taking a boat ride to the Isle of Skye off Scotland's west coast 20 years ago when he first conceived the idea of the connection between jellyfish and atoms in glass.