Prof. M.S. Swaminathan has been acclaimed by Time magazine as one of the 20 most influential Asians of the 20th century. He has also been described by the United Nations Environment Programme as “the Father of Economic Ecology,” because of his leadership of the green revolution in agriculture.
Prof. Swaminathan was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 1971, the Albert Einstein World Science Award in 1986, the first World Food Prize in 1987, and the Volvo, Tyler and UNEP Sasakawa Prize for Environment, the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Medal, the Mahatma Gandhi Prize of UNESCO in 2000 and the Lal Bahadur Sastri National Award in 2007. He is the recipient of a Padma Shri (1967), a Padma Bhushan (1972) and a Padma Vibushan (1989) as well.