The four-day conference is being organised by the Royal Society in association with the Government of India and The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust.
Britain's Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, will be present at the inaugural function tomorrow on behalf of the Queen of England, who is the patron of the Royal Society.
The conference will be attended by more than 300 specially invited scientists and 70 PhD students from across the Commonwealth, together with local delegates from Bengaluru. Representatives from over 30 countries are likely to attend the conference, organisers said.
"In fact there was a small Commonwealth Science Conference in 1967 at Oxford in Merton College; about 80 people, half of them from Britain and other other half from rest of the Commonwealth attended it ....Almost 50 years ago, that was the last Commonwealth Science Conference," Treasurer and Vice-President of the Royal Society Prof Anthony Cheetham told reporters here.
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"This particular event is the largest event that the Royal Society has held overseas in its history. It is quite a remarkable occasion," Cheetham said.
Prof C N R Rao, who is co-chair of the steering committee of the conference, said "Based on the discussion that started couple of years ago it was decided that we must have the Commonwealth conference (Science) ....And first one should be in India because we are the largest Commonwealth country and also scientifically fairly advanced...