NEW DELHI: Past president of the Indian National Science Academy and CSIR Bhatnagar fellow at the Indian Institute of Science, Goverdhan Mehta, has been elected to the coveted post of president of the International Council of Science (ICSU).

He is the second Indian to be elected to the post, after former Union Science and Technology Minister, M.G.K. Menon, who held the post twice from 1988 to 1990 and 1990-93.

Prof. Mehta is an internationally recognised expert in the chemistry of complex natural and non-natural products, the design of new reactions and reagents and use of photodynamic therapy for cancer treatment. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, London.

He has published more than 300 research papers in leading international scientific journals and has developed several innovative processes and new technologies for industrial applications.

The ICSU is one of the oldest non-governmental organisations in the world. Founded in 1931 to promote global scientific activities in different branches of science and its applications for the benefit of humanity, it represents the evolution and expansion of two earlier bodies known as the International Association of Academics (1899 to 1914) and the International Research Council (1919 to 1931). Its strength and uniqueness lies in its dual membership, national scientific members and international scientific unions, whose wide spectrum of scientific expertise enables it to address major, international and inter-disciplinary issues, which its members could not handle alone.

In 1992, it was invited to act as principal scientific adviser to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro and again in 2002, to the World Summit of Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.

It was known as the International Council for Scientific Unions till 1998, when its members decided that its current activities and composition would be better reflected by modifying the name to the International Council for Science, while its rich history and strong identity would be well served by retaining the acronym, ICSU.

As many as 101 countries are affiliated to it. INSA is the adhering organisation to ICSU in India, on behalf of the Central Government.

Announcing the election, a press release from INSA said that Anupam Varma, vice-president, INSA and INSA senior scientist at the Advanced Centre for Plant Virology at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, has also been elected as chairman of ICSU Regional Committee for Asia and the Pacific.

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