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Jayant Narlikar

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Jayant Vishnu Narlikar
File:Jvn.gif
Born (1938-07-19) 19 July 1938 (age 86)
Kolhapur, India
NationalityIndian
Alma materBanaras Hindu University
Cambridge University
Known forSteady state cosmology
Scientific career
FieldsAstrophysics,Physics, Cosmology
InstitutionsCambridge University
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics
Doctoral advisorFred Hoyle

Jayant Vishnu Narlikar (born July 19,1938) (Marathi: जयंत विष्णू नारळीकर) is an Indian astrophysicist.

Narlikar is a proponent of the steady state cosmology. He developed with Sir Fred Hoyle the conformal gravity theory, commonly known as Hoyle-Narlikar Theory. It synthesizes 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. In cosmologies based on this theory, the gravitational constant G decreases strongly with time.

Career

Narlikar was born in Kolhapur, India on July 19, 1938. His father, Vishnu Vasudev Narlikar, was a mathematician who served as a professor and later as the Head of the Department of Mathematics at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. Jayant's mother, Sumati Narlikar, was a scholar of Sanskrit language.

Jayant received his Bachelor of Science degree from Banaras Hindu University in 1957, and a B.A. in mathematics from the University of Cambridge in 1960, winning the Tyson Medal. During his doctoral studies at Cambridge, he won Smith’s Prize in 1962. After receiving his Ph.D. in 1963 under the guidance of Fred Hoyle, he served as a Berry Ramsey Fellow at King's College in Cambridge and earned an M.A. in astronomy and astrophysics in 1964. He continued to work as a Fellow at King's College until 1972. In 1966, Fred Hoyle established the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy in Cambridge, and Narlikar served as the founder staff member of the institute during 1966-72.

In 1972, Narlikar took up Professorship at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Mumbai, India. At the TIFR, he was in charge of the Theoretical Astrophysics Group. In 1988, 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.

Narlikar is internationally known for his work in cosmology, especially in championing models alternative to the popular Big Bang model. During 1994 – '97, he was the President of the Cosmology Commission of the International Astronomical Union. His research work has involved Mach’s Principle, quantum cosmology, and action-at-a-distance physics.

During 1999-2003, Narlikar 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 collected samples led to the findings of live cells and bacteria, which opened the intriguing possibility that the earth is being bombarded by microorganisms some of which might have seeded life itself on earth.

Honors

Narlikar has received several national and international awards and honorary doctorates.

He is a recipient of Bhatnagar Award, M.P. Birla Award, and the Prix Janssen of the 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 well known as a communicator of science through his books, articles, and radio/TV programs. For these efforts, he was honored in 1996 by the UNESCO with the Kalinga Award.

He was once featured on Carl Sagan's TV show Cosmos: A Personal Voyage in the late 1980s.

He received the Indira Gandhi Award of the Indian National Science Academy in 1990.

India’s second highest civilian honor, Padma Vibhushan, was awarded to him in 2004 for his research work.

Personal Life

Narlikar is married to mathematics researcher Mangala (maiden name Rajwade). The couple has three daughters: Geeta, Girija, and Leelavati. All three daughters are marries and having children also.

Writings

Besides scientific papers and books and popular science literature, Narlikar has written science fiction, novels, and short stories in English, Hindi, and Marathi. Like many another Contemporary scientists like Richard Dawkins and Stephen Hawking, Jayant Narlikar regard astrology as unscientific.While speaking on an investigation, Dr. Jayant stated, “We took the horoscope of 100 mentally retarded and 100 bright children and jumbled them up. Finally, we tried to find out from the astrologers whether they can spot them rightly in which 50 persons participated. We gave 40 horoscopes to each individual. Surprisingly many did not return their findings to us and of those who did the highest was 22 correct answers and 17 was the average. And it was like the chances one takes with coins where the chances of heads and tails always come.” for more information see: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/OPINION/Editorial/Darkness_at_noon/articleshow/462734.cms


Non-Fiction

  • Current Issues in Cosmology, 2006
  • A Different Approach to Cosmology : From a Static Universe through the Big Bang towards Reality, 2005
  • Fred Hoyle's Universe, 2003
  • Scientific Edge: The Indian Scientist from Vedic to Modern Times, 2003
  • An Introduction to Cosmology, 2002
  • Quasars and Active Galactic Nuclei : An Introduction, 1999
  • From Black Clouds to Black Holes, 1996
  • Seven Wonders of the Cosmos, 1995
  • Philosophy of Science: Perspectives from Natural and Social Sciences, 1992
  • Highlights in Gravitation and Cosmology, 1989
  • Violent Phenomena in the Universe, 1982
  • The Lighter Side of Gravity, 1982
  • Physics-Astronomy Frontier (co-author Sir Fred Hoyle), 1981
  • The Structure of the Universe, 1977
  • Creation of Matter and Anomalous Redshifts, 2002
  • Absorber Theory of Radiation in Expanding Universes, 2002
  • आकाशाशी जडले नाते (Akashashi Jadale Nate), (in Marathi)

Fiction

In English:

  • The Return of Vaman, 1990
  • The Adventure

In Marathi:

  • यक्षाची देणगी (Yakshachi Dengi)
  • प्रेषित (Preshit)
  • वायरस (Virus)
  • वामन परत न आला (Vaman Parat Na Ala)
  • अभयारण्य (Abhayaranya)


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