JAYANT.V.NARLIKAR

(Born 19 July 1938 is an Indian Astrophysicist and Emeritus Professor at IUCCA)

             

"ASTRONOMY?? Impossible to understand and madness to investigate"

Crab Nebula

              Before I write a article about Professor Jayant.V.Narlikar I must tell you guys he is a awesome man. I have read few of his books and they are really good.

    When I was a child I always used to wonder what is there exactly in the space? Is there life on any other planet? What is a universe, galaxy, nebula, supernova,black hole? So, my mother got me 2-3 books and one of them was "Akashashi jadale nate"(On developing relationship to the sky) which was written in Marathi by Jayant Narlikar. Few of his books are below.

Astronomy dates back to ancient times when peoples such as the Babylonians, Egyptians, and Chinese kept written records of astronomical events and occurrences. Today’s seven day week originates from the Babylonians’ seven important bodies in the night sky: the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. The ancient Egyptians used the stars to align their pyramids and many of their corridors in almost perfect north-south or east-west directions. The Chinese were experts at predicting solar eclipses. They believed that a solar eclipse was a dangerous warning. Chinese astronomers were executed if they failed to predict an eclipse.

"Scientific Temper amongst people today"

Jayant Narlikar was born on July 19, 1938 in Kolhapur, Maharashtra and received his early 

education in the campus of Banaras Hindu University (BHU), where his father Vishnu 

Vasudeva Narlikar was Professor and Head of the Mathematics Department. His mother 

Sumati Narlikar was a Sanskrit scholar. After a brilliant career in school and college, Narlikar 

got his B.Sc. degree in 1957. He went to Cambridge for higher studies, becoming a Wrangler 

and Tyson Medallist in the Mathematical Tripos. He got his Cambridge degrees in 

mathematics: B.A.(1960), Ph.D. (1963), M.A. (1964) and Sc.D. (1976), 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. 

Narlikar returned to India to join the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (1972-1989) 

where under his charge the Theoretical Astrophysics Group acquired international standing. 

In 1988 he was invited by the University Grants Commission as Founder Director to set up 

the proposed Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA). Under his 

direction IUCAA has acquired a world-wide reputation as a centre for excellence in teaching 

and research in astronomy and astrophysics. He retired from this position in 2003. He is now 

Emeritus Professor at IUCAA. 

In 1966, Narlikar married Mangala Rajwade, a Ph.D. in mathematics. They have three 

daughters, Geeta, Girija and Leelavati, all of whom have opted for careers in science. 

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 recently broke new grounds in space research. Since 1999 he has been heading an 

international team in pioneering experiments designed to sample air for microorganisms in the 

atmosphere at heights of up to 41 km. Biological studies of the samples collected in 2001 and 

2005 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. In 2011, the Government of the State of Maharashtra gave him 

the State’s highest civilian honour of Maharashtra Bhushan. 

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomy
http://www.iucaa.ernet.in/~jvn/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayant_Narlikar

     

POSTED BY : Kishalaya Waykole
E-mail: kishukite@gmail.com