The Memorial Lecture Award was established in the year 1979 in the honour of Professor Kotcherlakota Rangadhama Rao by the students of Prof. K.Rangadhama Rao and Indian National Science Academy, formerly National Institute of Sciences of India, Calcutta. The lecture is awarded for outstanding contributions in the field of Spectroscopy. The award carries an honorarium of Rs. 25,000/- and a citation.