London: A leading NRI academic Sir Tejinder Singh Virdee, known for originating the concept and construction of Compact Muon Solenold that lead to the discovery of Higgs Boson, has won the 'Professional of the Year' award.
At a glittering awards ceremony in London, organized by the Asian Achievers Awards 2014, Virdee received the award for his outstanding achievements in the field of physics.
Virdee's construction of CMS also lead to the discovery of Higgs Boson that merited the 2013 Physics Nobel Prize.
In recognition of his work on CMS he has been awarded the Institute of Physics 2007 High Energy Physics Prize and the IOP 2009 Chadwick Medal and Prize.
He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Institute of Physics in 2012 and in 2014 he was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours for services to science.
The award recipients on Friday night also included Dr Richie Nanda, an international security magnate and the Executive Chairman of Topsgrup and The Shield Group (Entrepreneur of the Year).
Other award recipients were Bombay-born Hanif Kureishi, an English playwright, screenwriter and filmmaker and novelist (Achievement in Media, Arts and Culture), Wasim Gulzar Khan, the first British born Pakistani to play professional cricket in England (Achievement in Community Service), Dilawar Singh, Director, Sports Council for Glasgow, the first Asian and Sikh police officer in Scotland, who spent over 30 years with Strathclyde Police (Sports Personality of the Year).
Priya Lakhani, a former barrister who founded the FMCG business Masala Masala in 2008 (Woman of the Year).
Sir Anwar Pervez, founder and chairman of Bestway Group (Lifetime Achievement Award), Mahmud Kamani, a leader in fashion industry (Business Person of the Year), Shahid Khan (Editor's Award for Rising Star) and Late Flt Lt Rakesh Chauhan (Editor's award for Bravery and Patriotism).
Philip Hammond, MP, Britain's Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth affairs, who was the Chief Guest, said a new generation of Asian entrepreneurs is encouraging the British Asian community to expand into new sectors.
"Today, 50,000 British Asian businesses in the UK together generate more than 60 billion pounds nationwide," he said.
Organizer of the event, C B Patel, Publisher/Editor, ABPL Group, said, "The Asian Achievers Awards prides itself on showcasing remarkable people and role models and our 2014 nominee list exemplifies that perfectly.”
The High Commissioner of India to the UK, Ranjan Mathai was among the prominent personalities present on the occasion.
