 The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1981, for his contributions to biological sciences.Prafullachandra Vishnu Sane, born on the Christmas Eve of 1937 at Chiplun, in Ratnagiri district in the Indian state of Maharashtra to Vishnu Jagannath Sane and Indira, did his schooling at New English High School, Nagpur and college studies at Agriculture College of Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth from where he graduated in 1958.After obtaining his master's degree in agriculture from Nagpur University in 1960, he started his career at Bureau of Indian Standards in 1961 and continued there till 1964 when he moved to the University of Alberta, Edmonton for his doctoral studies to secure a PhD in 1968.