Professor S. Chandrasekhar, Centre for Liquid Crystal Research, Bangalore, has been nominated by the Niels Bohr Institute for the award of a Niels Bohr-UNESCO Gold Medal in recognition of his ‘outstanding contributions to the development of liquid crystals, the advancement of science in developing countries and the teaching of physics’. The presentation will be made by the Director General of UNESCO, Dr Federico Mayor, during the symposium on Niels Bohr and the Evolution of Physics in the 20th Century to be held in Paris, 27–29 May 1998.