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Jayant Narlikar
Professor Jayant Vishnu Narlikar (born July 19,1938) (Marathi: ????. ???? ?????? ???????) is an eminent Indian astrophysicist. Narlikar is considered a leading expert and defender of the steady state cosmology. His work on conformal gravity theory with Sir Fred Hoyle, called Hoyle-Narlikar theory, demonstrated a synthesis can be achieved between Albert Einstein?s theory of relativity and Mach's principle. India?s second highest civilian honour, Padma Vibhushan, was awarded to him for his work. Prof. Narlikar is the founder director of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) at Pune, India.
Life and careerProf. Narlikar was born in Kolhapur, India on July 19, 1938. His father, Vishnu Vasudev Narlikar was an eminent mathematician and general relativist. He was Professor and Head of the Department of Mathematics at the Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. His mother, Sumathi Vishnu Narlikar was a sanskrit scholar. Jayant topped Banaras Hindu University Bachelor of science examination in 1957. The same year he went to Cambridge University in UK to study mathematics further.He got his Cambridge degrees in mathematics: B.A.(1960), Ph.D. (1963)under the guidance of Scientist Fred Hoyle. That year he went to King?s College, Cambridge as Berry Ramsey Fellow. He made his M.A. in 1964, but specialized in astronomy and astrophysics. He distinguished himself at Cambridge with the Smith?s Prize in 1962 and the Adams Prize in 1967. He later stayed on at Cambridge till 1972, as Fellow of King?s College (1963-72) and Founder Staff Member of the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy (1966-72). During this period he laid the foundations of his research work in cosmology and astrophysics in collaboration with his mentor Fred Hoyle. In 1966 Fred Hoyle established Institute of Theoretical Astronomy in Cambridge. Narlikar became the founder staff member of the institute. That year, Narlikar married mathematics researcher Ms. Mangala Rajwade,PhD. The couple have three daughters - Geeta, Girija and Leelavati. In 1969 He became a Senior Research Fellow King?s College, Cambridge for the next three years In 1972 - Narlikar returned to India and took up Professorship at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai. At the TIFR, he was in charge of the Theoretical Astrophysics Group, which he developed into a strong center for astrophysics. In 1988 University Grants Commission (India) sets up the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) at Pune. Narlikar became the Founder-Director of IUCAA. Narlikar is internationally known for his work in cosmology, in championing models alternative to the popularly believed big bang model. He was President of the Cosmology Commission of the International Astronomical Union from 1994 to 1997. His work has been on the frontiers of gravity and Mach?s Principle, quantum cosmology and action at a distance physics. He has received several national and international awards and honorary doctorates. He is a Bhatnagar awardee, as well as recipient of the M.P. Birla award, the Prix Janssen of the French Astronomical Society and an Associate of the Royal Astronomical Society of London. He is Fellow of the three national science academies as well as of the Third World Academy of Sciences. Apart from his scientific research, Narlikar has been well known as a science communicator through his books, articles, and radio/TV programmes. For these efforts, he was honoured by the UNESCO in 1996 with the Kalinga Award. Narlikar broke new grounds in space research, when during 1999-2003 he headed an international team in a pioneering experiment designed to sample air for microorganisms in the atmosphere at heights of up to 41 km. Biological studies of the samples collected led to the findings of live cells and bacteria, thus opening out the intriguing possibility that the Earth is being bombarded by microorganisms some of which might have seeded life itself here. Narlikar was decorated Padmabhushan in 1965, at the young age of 26. In 2004 he was awarded Padmavibhushan Research and workHis work on conformal gravity theory with Fred Hoyle, called Hoyle-Narlikar Theory put forth that the inertial mass of a particle is a function of the masses of all other particles, multiplied by a coupling constant, that is a function of cosmic epoch. In cosmologies based on this theory, the gravitational constant G decreases strongly with time. Prof. Narlikar is active in popularising science. He has written many articles in leading periodicals and has given lectures. He has written science fiction in Hindi, Marathi and English He is famous amongst Indians who saw him on TV giving a prologue to each episode of Carl Sagan's Cosmos: A Personal Voyage in the late 1980s. Main publicationsBooks
Recent articles
Sci-fi novelsIn English :
In Marathi (?????):
Honours and AwardsAt Cambridge, Prof. Narlikar became Wrangler in 1959 and achieved distinction at the Part III of the Mathematical Tripos. He has won Tyson medal in astronomy there. He has received the Indira Gandhi Award of the Indian National Science Academy (1990) and the Kalinga Award of UNESCO (1996). In 2004 Prof. Narlikar was awarded Padma Vibhushan - India's second highest civilian honour. External links
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