Jayant Narlikar is a popular Indian astrophysicist and emeritus professor at IUCAA. He is best known for developing with Sir Fred Hoyle the conformal gravity theory, also known as Hoyle–Narlikar theory. It combines Mach’s principle with Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity.
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About Jayant Narlikar
Jayant Vishnu Narlikar was born on 19 July 1938 in Kolhapur, India. He was born into a family of scholars as his father, Vishnu Vasudev Narlikar, was a mathematician and theoretical physicist while his mother Sumati Narlikar, was a scholar of Sanskrit. His father served as Professor and Head of the Department of Mathematics at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.
Jayant Narlikar married Mangala Narlikar who was a mathematician and the couple have three daughters.
Education of Jayant Narlikar
Jayant Narlikar education was from Central Hindu College, which is currently Central Hindu Boys School. In 1957, he completed his Bachelor of Science degree from Banaras Hindu University. Like his father, he then started his studies at Cambridge University’s Fitzwilliam College, where he worked as a Senior Wrangler and earned a BA (Tripos) in mathematics in 1959. In 1962, he was awarded the Smith’s Prize while pursuing his doctorate at Cambridge.
He studied under Fred Hoyle for his PhD in 1963, then worked as a Berry Ramsey Fellow at King’s College, Cambridge, where he completed his master’s degree in astronomy and astrophysics in 1964.
Professional Career of Jayant Narlikar
Jayant Narlikar worked as a Fellow at King’s College up until 1972. He was one of the founding members of the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy in Cambridge from 1966 to 1972. Narlikar began a professorship at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in 1972 in Mumbai, India. Narlikar took over the role of Founder-Director of the Pune-based Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) in 1988.
Narlikar joined as a founding member of the World Cultural Council in 1981. He led the International Astronomical Union’s Cosmology Commission as its president from 1994 to 1997.
He was named chairperson of The Advisory Group for Textbooks in Science and Mathematics to oversee the creation of science and math textbooks published by NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training).
Achievements of Jayant Narlikar
Jayant Narlikar achievements include numerous honorary doctorates and awards both domestically and abroad. Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian accolade in India, was given to him in 2004 in recognition of his scholarly efforts. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1965 and also received the 1981 “Rashtra Bhushan” from the Ichalkaranji FIE Foundation. In 2010, he was granted the Maharashtra Bhushan Award.
In 1990, he was granted the Indian National Science Academy’s Indira Gandhi Award. In 2009, he was also a member of the Infosys Prize Physical Sciences jury. For his Marathi autobiography, Chaar Nagarantale Maze Vishwa, he was awarded a Sahitya Akademi Award in 2014. In January 2021, he presided over the 94th Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, which was held in Nashik.
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Books Written by Jayant Narlikar
In addition to writing popular science literature, scientific papers, and books, Narlikar is a science fiction, novel, and short story writer in Marathi, Hindi, and English.
Some of the popular Jayant Narlikar books are as mentioned below:
- Introduction to Cosmology in 1983
- The lighter side of gravity in 1982
- Violent Phenomena in the Universe in 1982
- From black clouds to black holes in 1985
- Gravity, gauge theories, and quantum cosmology in 1986
- The Return of Vaman – A Scientific Novel in 1989
- It Happened Tomorrow in 1993
- Elements of Cosmology in 1996
- Seven Wonders of the Cosmos in 1999
- The Scientific Edge: The Indian Scientist from Vedic to Modern Times in 2003
- Facts and Speculations in Cosmology in 2004
- Black Holes in 2006
- An Introduction to Relativity in 2010
- My Tale of Four Cities: An Autobiography in 2016
Some of Jayant Narlikar’s fictional books in English include:
- The Return of Vaman, 1990
- The Adventure
- The Comet
Jayant Narlikar The Adventure narrates the story of two competing ideas that aim to explain what would have happened in a history professor’s life if a conflict that occurred more than 200 years ago had gone differently.
FAQs
1. How old is Jayant Narlikar?
Ans. Jayant Narlikar is presently 85 years old as he was born in July 1938.
2. What is the famous work of Jayant Narlikar?
Ans. Together with Sir Fred Hoyle, Jayant Narlikar created the Hoyle–Narlikar theory, or conformal gravity theory. His contributions to cosmology, particularly his support of hypotheses other than the widely accepted Big Bang theory, have earned him recognition on a global scale.
3. What are the awards of Dr Jayant Narlikar?
Ans. Some of the awards won by Jayant Narlikar include Smith’s Prize (1962), Padma Bhushan (1965), Adams Prize (1967), Padma Vibhushan (2004), Maharashtra Bhushan (2010), Sahitya Akademi Award (2014) and others.
Conclusion
Overall, Jayant Narlikar is a famous Indian astrophysicist, cosmologist, and professor at IUCAA in Pune, Maharashtra. He is best known for his contribution to the steady state cosmology model, the theory of gravitation, and black holes. We have shared everything about Jayant Narlikar the adventure about the author and we hope now you know everything about him that you were looking for.