Professor Jayant Vishnu Narlikar Passes Away At 86: India Mourns Visionary Cosmologist And Science Communicator
Professor Jayant Vishnu Narlikar (19 July 1938 to 20 May 2025)
Prof Narlikar was a person of exceptional brilliance who excelled in his area of research. He was also keenly interested in education and took a personal interest in student affairs. His interest in the history of Indian astronomy was also very deep and profound.
He was born into a family of scholars; his father was a cosmologist and a teacher of general relativity, and his late wife, Mangala Narlikar, was a brilliant mathematician.
After his schooling in India, he graduated from the Banaras Hindu University. He went to Cambridge, England, where he was awarded BA and Ph D degree with Prof Fred Hoyle. His most significant contribution was the Steady State Cosmology (SSC). Prof Fred Hoyle was the original proponent of the SSC. Prof Narlikar joined him in exploring the ideas of SSC.
They worked on how the observations of the universe could be understood in SSC. He continued this work after he joined TIFR. Several very insightful ideas were explored by them, including the idea of quasi-steady state theory emerged from their work.
He returned to India in 1972 and joined the TIFR, where he served till distinction till May 1989 before moving to start IUCAA.
TIFR very fondly remembers the various contributions of Prof Narlikar. His deep and insightful knowledge and understanding of Cosmology and the General Theory of Relativity allowed him to explore vast fields of cosmology with his several distinguished students and colleagues.
Even though later evidence suggested that the Big Bang theory explained the observations more easily, he continued to pursue his interest and later used it to explore and expose the weaknesses of the Big Bang Cosmology.
He was also interested in issues of life in the universe. With Prof Wikramsinghe of Sri Lanka, they performed a path-breaking balloon experiment to collect air samples from an altitude of 40 km, well above 10 km where the Troposphere seals the Earth’s atmosphere from outer space.
The initial results from the study suggested that the Earth was continuously receiving organic matter from outer space, and that could have seeded life on Earth. These results have not deserved the follow-up they should have, and with the current level of contamination of outer space by man-made objects, it may never be possible to check these results.
With his deep belief in the need to have a close relationship between university education and research, he started the Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics under the University Grants Commission which has done path breaking research in astronomy and cosmology as well as trained a large number of university teachers and students in advanced astronomy and astrophysics.
It has also provided valuable tools and training to students and teachers to continue research within their universities. This has been a path-breaking model for the relationship between research Institutions and universities in India.
His interest in the history of astronomy has also been deep. He has co-authored several books and book chapters on the growth of astronomy and astrophysics in India and encouraged many young researchers to explore this field.
He was also an excellent writer of science fiction stories. He was also awarded the Sahitya Academy award for regional writing (Marathi) for his autobiography. He was also awarded Maharashtra Bhushan for his contribution.
Narlikar has been bestowed with several awards including the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award, the highest honour for an Indian researcher. He was also an Associate of the Royal Astronomical Society of London and a fellow of the World Academy of Sciences. The Government of India awarded Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awards to him.
Apart from his research activities, he was interested in communicating science to the laypersons through books, articles and radio and television programs.
He will be remembered most fondly for his caring nature, a very informal style of interaction with profound insights and his intense desire for learning.
Narlikar was the person any scientist should aspire to be. Rationalist, realist, intellectually sharp and yet indulging in discussions only to enhance his knowledge, not his ego. Narlikar will remain an ideal that all those who came close to him will aspire to be.
Mayank Vahia - President TIFR Alumni Association
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