Jayant narlikar biography of rory

Indian physicist and author

Jayant Vishnu NarlikarFNA, FASc, FTWAS (born 19 July ) is an Indian astrophysicist and emeritus professor at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA).^[1] He developed with Sir Fred Hoyle the conformal gravity theory, known as Hoyle–Narlikar theory.

It synthesises Albert Einstein's theory of relativity and Mach's principle. It proposes that the inertial mass of a particle is a function of the masses of all other particles, multiplied by a coupling constant, which is a function of cosmic epoch.

Jayant Vishnu Narlikar - IUCAA: Jayant Vishnu Narlikar FNA, FASc, FTWAS (born 19 July ) is an Indian astrophysicist and emeritus professor at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA). [1] He developed with Sir Fred Hoyle the conformal gravity theory, known as Hoyle–Narlikar theory.

Early life

Narlikar was born in Kolhapur, India, on 19 July , into a family of scholars. His father, Vishnu Vasudev Narlikar, was a mathematician and theoretical physicist who served as Professor and Head of Department of Mathematics at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, and mother, Sumati Narlikar, was a scholar of Sanskrit.

His wife was mathematician Mangala Narlikar and they have three daughters.^[2][3] His maternal uncle was the distinguished statistician V. S. Huzurbazar.^[4]

Career

Narlikar completed his school knowledge from Central Hindu College now Central Hindu Boys School.

He received his BSc degree from Banaras Hindu University in He then began his studies at Cambridge University at Fitzwilliam College like his father,^[5] where he received a BA (Tripos) degree in mathematics in and was Senior Wrangler.^[6] In , he won the Tyson Medal for astronomy.

During his doctoral studies at Cambridge, he won the Smith's Prize in After receiving his PhD degree in under the guidance of Fred Hoyle, he served as a Berry Ramsey Fellow at King's College in Cambridge and earned a master's degree in astronomy and astrophysics in He continued to work as a Fellow at King's College until In , Fred Hoyle established Institute of Theoretical Astronomy in Cambridge, and Narlikar served as the founding staff member of the institute during – In , Narlikar took up Professorship at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Analyze (TIFR) in Mumbai, India.

At the TIFR, he was in charge of the Theoretical Astrophysics Group. In , the Indian University Grants Commission set up the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) in Pune, and Narlikar became the Founder-Director of IUCAA.

In , Narlikar became a founding member of the World Cultural Council.^[7] Narlikar is known for his labor in cosmology, especially in championing models alternative to the trendy Big Bang model.^[8] During –, he was the President of the Cosmology Commission of the International Astronomical Union.

His analyze work has involved Mach's law, quantum cosmology, and action-at-a-distance physics. Narlikar was part of a study which cultured microorganisms from stratospheric air samples obtained at 41&#;km.^[9] He was appointed as the chairperson of The Advisory Group for Textbooks in Science and Mathematics, the textbook progress committee responsible for developing textbooks in Science and Mathematics, published by NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training).

Honours

Narlikar has received many national and international awards and honorary doctorates. India's second-highest civilian honour, Padma Vibhushan, was awarded to him in for his research work.^[10] Prior to this, in , he was conferred Padma Bhushan.^[10] He was awarded 'Rashtra Bhushan' in by FIE Foundation, Ichalkaranji.^[11] He received Maharashtra Bhushan Award for the year ^[12] He is a recipient of Bhatnagar Award, M.P.

Birla Award, and the Prix Jules Janssen of the Société astronomique de France (French Astronomical Society). He is an Associate of the Royal Astronomical Society of London, and a Fellow of the three Indian National Science Academies and the Third World Academy of Sciences.

Apart from his scientific research, Narlikar has been adequately known as a communicator of science through his books, articles, and radio & television programs. For these efforts, he was honoured in by UNESCO with the Kalinga Prize.^[13] He was featured on Carl Sagan's TV show Cosmos: A Personal Voyage in the late s.

In , he received the Atmaram Award by Central Hindi Directorate.^[14] He received the Indira Gandhi Award of the Indian National Science Academy in ^[15] He also served on the Physical Sciences jury for the Infosys Prize in ^[16] In , he received a Sahitya Akademi Award for his autobiography in Marathi, Chaar Nagarantale Maze Vishwa.^[17][18] He presided over the 94th Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan held at Nashik in January ^[19]

Books

Besides scientific papers and books and popular science literature, Narlikar has written science fiction, novels, and short stories in English, Hindi, and Marathi.

He is also the consultant for the Science and Mathematics textbooks of NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training, India).

Non-fiction

In English:

• Facts and Speculations in Cosmology, with G.

  Burbridge, Cambridge University Press , ISBN&#;

• Current Issues in Cosmology,
• A Different Approach to Cosmology: From a Static Universe through the Big Bang towards Reality,
• Fred Hoyle's Space,
• Scientific Edge: The Indian Scientist from Vedic to Modern Times,
• An Introduction to Cosmology,
• A Different Approach to Cosmology, with G.

  Burbridge and Fred Hoyle, Cambridge University Press , ISBN&#;,

• Quasars and Active Galactic Nuclei: An Introduction,
• From Black Clouds to Black Holes,
• From Black Clouds to Black Holes (Third Edition), ,^[20]
• Seven Wonders of the Galaxy,
• Philosophy of Science: Perspectives from Natural and Social Sciences,
• The extragalactic universe: an alternative view, with Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe, Nature–, 30 August
• Highlights in Gravitation and Cosmology,
• The Primeval Universe,
• Violent Phenomena in the Universe,
• The Lighter Side of Gravity,
• Physics-Astronomy Frontier (co-author Sir Fred Hoyle),
• The Structure of the Universe,
• Creation of Matter and Anomalous Redshifts,
• Absorber Theory of Radiation in Expanding Universes,

In Marathi:

• आकाशाशी जडले नाते
• नभात हसरे तारे

Fiction

In English:

• The Return of Vaman,
• The Adventure
• The Comet

In Marathi:

• वामन परत न आला
• यक्षांची देणगी
• अभयारण्य
• व्हायरस
• प्रेषित
• अंतराळातील भस्मासूर
• टाईम मशीनची किमया
• उजव्या सोंडेचा गणपती

In Hindi:

Personal life

Narlikar married mathematics researcher and professor, Mangala Narlikar (née Rajwade).

The couple have three daughters: Geeta, a biomedical researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, Girija and Leelavati who are in computer science. He is the uncle of the Cambridge University social sciences academic Amrita Narlikar.

References

External links