Jayant Narlikar

Jayant Vishnu Narlikar (born 19 July 1938) is an Indian astrophysicist and emeritus professor at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA).

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.

Narlikar was born in Kolhapur, India, on 19 July 1938, 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.

His maternal uncle was the distinguished statistician V. S. Huzurbazar.

Narlikar completed his school education from Central Hindu College [now Central Hindu Boys School].

He received his BSc degree from Banaras Hindu University in 1957.

He then began his studies at Cambridge University at Fitzwilliam College like his father, where he received a BA (Tripos) degree in mathematics in 1959 and was Senior Wrangler.

In 1960, he won the Tyson Medal for astronomy.

During his doctoral studies at Cambridge, he won the Smith's Prize in 1962.

After receiving his PhD degree in 1963 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 1964.

Prior to this, in 1965, he was conferred Padma Bhushan.

In 1966, Fred Hoyle established Institute of Theoretical Astronomy in Cambridge, and Narlikar served as the founding staff member of the institute during 1966–72.

He continued to work as a Fellow at King's College until 1972.

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.

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

In 1981, Narlikar became a founding member of the World Cultural Council.

Narlikar is known for his work in cosmology, especially in championing models alternative to the popular Big Bang model.

He was awarded 'Rashtra Bhushan' in 1981 by FIE Foundation, Ichalkaranji.

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.

In 1989, he received the Atmaram Award by Central Hindi Directorate.

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

During 1994–1997, 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.

Narlikar was part of a study which cultured microorganisms from stratospheric air samples obtained at 41 km. He was appointed as the chairperson of The Advisory Group for Textbooks in Science and Mathematics, the textbook development committee responsible for developing textbooks in Science and Mathematics, published by NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training).

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

For these efforts, he was honoured in 1996 by UNESCO with the Kalinga Prize.

India's second-highest civilian honour, Padma Vibhushan, was awarded to him in 2004 for his research work.

He also served on the Physical Sciences jury for the Infosys Prize in 2009.

He received Maharashtra Bhushan Award for the year 2010.

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 well known as a communicator of science through his books, articles, and radio & television programs.

In 2014, he received a Sahitya Akademi Award for his autobiography in Marathi, Chaar Nagarantale Maze Vishwa.

He presided over the 94th Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan held at Nashik in January 2021.

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