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Indian Express
a day ago
- Science
- Indian Express
Jayant Narlikar, the storyteller who brought the stars closer to India
Some people do not come in through the door but rather jump through the roof. Jayant Narlikar was one of them. In 1964, when Fred Hoyle and he announced in Cambridge University their new theory of gravity, suddenly Jawaharlal Nehru's modern India found a hero in science. It is therefore no surprise that Narlikar became a household name overnight in a country seeking its bearings in the world of science and technology. He passed away peacefully in his sleep, just two months short of his 87th birthday on July 19, marking the end of an era. He doesn't leave behind a vacuum but a thriving world-class institute in the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA); a galaxy of young women and men inspired by his work and books; and millions of admirers all over the globe. He has 'curved' a special place for himself in 'time'. That would be the right way to remember him and a fitting tribute. Today, we should celebrate the life of a great human being, committed to science and its propagation, a man who personified excellence in whatever he indulged in. It is a matter of great privilege for some of us who had the opportunity to work with him at various levels. He had the uncanny knack of getting the best out of everyone by sharing and involving them in things. Narlikar was an outstanding student at Cambridge, winning laurels, including the coveted Adams Prize, which he shared with Roger Penrose, who went on to become a Nobel Laureate. He was among the front-ranking researchers of his time. The Hoyle–Narlikar theory was developed in support of the steady state theory of cosmology, which proposed that the universe looks the same from every point in space and at all times, and that it has no beginning or end. However, this theory eventually fell out of favour as astronomical observations provided strong evidence that the universe had a definite beginning, marked by a massive explosion known as the Big Bang. The term 'Big Bang' was actually coined by Hoyle — ironically, one of the main proponents of the steady state theory. Narlikar was, in fact, among the last prominent supporters of the steady state model. He was a brilliant researcher and had the conviction and courage to ride against the tide and still be held in the highest esteem even by his academic opponents. The distinguished visitors to IUCAA, including Nobel laureates, bear testimony to this fact. IUCAA was his greatest gift to science and the nation. He wanted to facilitate research in astronomy in universities. It is gratifying to see university students and faculty doing pathbreaking research and publishing their work in front-ranking journals. This is what would have pleased him the most. The thing that stands out most is his missionary zeal to communicate science and its method to young students and ordinary people through his innumerable public lectures and science-fiction books. It would be no exaggeration to say that it is this aspect that strongly endeared him to people. There are many renowned scientists in the country, but none have attained his kind of popularity and respect. To this end, let me recall an incident from 1997 when he had organised Penrose's lecture in Pune's Balgandharva theatre. Such was the demand to listen to him that there was nearly a riot-like situation with people who could not get in shouting and banging at the gates, and, from the other side, Shriram Lagoo was pacifying them, saying that it was their very own Narlikar's event. The ultimate value of one's work and contribution is how far and how well it is remembered. Besides his scientific work, the two things that will keep his memory alive will be the institute, IUCAA, and his popular writings and science fiction. I am sure that even after 50 years or more, one would certainly come across people who had been motivated by him. Let me end on a personal note. In 1965, three of us travelled from Vallabh Vidyanagar to Ahmedabad to listen to Narlikar's lecture in the Atira hall. Little did I know then that I would end up spending over half a century intimately interacting and working with him. That is something I will always treasure. The writer, a former director of IUCAA, was Narlikar's colleague for five decades
Indian Express
2 days ago
- Science
- Indian Express
Very few have courage to stand up against astrology today: Mashelkar on Narlikar
SCIENTIST DR Raghunath Mashelkar recalled how astrophysicist Jayant Narlikar had the 'courage to stand up against pseudosciences like astrology', while noting that 'many could not do the same today'. Speaking virtually at a tribute event at the Pune International Centre on Saturday, Mashelkar said, 'He fought pseudoscience with reason, not with ridicule. And he stood up. I remember that I was in Delhi at that period of time, there was an effort to introduce astrology courses. And he was the first one to stand up and say astrology is not science. He had the courage to do that. We have very few people today who have the courage to do that. I don't want to elaborate on that.' In 2008, Narlikar teamed up with the late rationalist Narendra Dabholkar to conduct an experiment testing the validity of astrology. Published in scientific journal Current Science volume 96 in March 2009 titled 'A statistical test of astrology', the experiment invited astrologers to predict the mental capabilities of a set of 40 students based on their birth charts or kundalis. This set of 40 would be randomly drawn from a total set of 200 students. Half of these students were 'intellectually bright' in their schools while the other half were not. Out of all the astrologers who participated in the experiment, the best performance was 24 out of 40 correct answers while the average correct answer per sample was 17.5. These numbers were below the minimum threshold for success statistically calculated to be 28 correct answers. Mashelkar added that Narlikar invited pride in ancient Indian astronomy, showing how our scientific heritage is both rich and relevant. Narlikar's death on May 20 led to an outpour of tributes from scientists, citizens, and politicians from across the country. One of the most popular and accomplished scientists from India, Narlikar was the founding director of Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics. Soham is a Correspondent with the Indian Express in Pune. A journalism graduate, he was a fact-checker before joining the Express. Soham currently covers education and is also interested in civic issues, health, human rights, and politics. ... Read More
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Science
- Hindustan Times
Narlikar was deeply committed to IUCAA's welfare: Srianand
IUCAA is a living memory of Jayant Narlikar,' said professor R Srianand, director, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) recalling the legacy of the astrophysicist who laid the foundation for one of India's premier research institutions. 'Even decades from now, I believe IUCAA will continue to reflect the ideals he established. Our ideas may evolve with time and context, but the spirit he injected into this institute will remain unchanged.' The Pune International Centre on Saturday hosted the Dr Jayant Narlikar Memorial Lecture as tribute to the life and works of the globally known scientist and founding director of IUCAA. Srianand said, 'One of the most important things I hope to learn from him is how to conduct meaningful, independent research. He was among the few who boldly proposed alternate theories about the universe.' He noted Narlikar's extraordinary ability to engage and continuously inspire students, recalled the structured pace of his lectures — very calm, non-hurried, and deeply impactful. 'You would never feel rushed in his class,' he said. 'He maintained a consistent speed throughout the one hour and yet managed to cover a tremendous amount of material. It reflected the level of preparation and research he brought to his lecture.' Srianand said that Narlikar as an administrator was a very democratic person, tolerant, and deeply committed to the welfare of the IUCAA. 'He had incredible tolerance. Where others might have reacted harshly, he chose to listen and let people be heard. Despite being an internationally respected physicist, Narlikar always remained available for everyone from faculty to driver,' he said. He recalled Narlikar's emotional attachment to IUCAA, especially his continued presence at events such as retirement functions of faculty, and did not impose his ideas on the new director. Professor Ajit Kembhavi said, 'Narlikar, along with Fred Hoyle and others, helped develop the Steady State Theory, which was a serious alternative to the Big Bang. They suggested that new matter is constantly created, so the universe always looks the same and has no beginning. Even though this idea was later set aside after the discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation, it was an important and creative theory at the time.'
Time of India
22-05-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Galaxy's quasar radiation cuts off star formation in its cosmic neighbour
Pune: What happens when two galaxies racing towards each other at 500km per second collide? For the first time, an international team of astronomers, including two from Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) in Pune, found that sometimes the core of one galaxy throws out so much radiation at the other galaxy that it loses its power to form stars. Bright objects called quasars are the villains disrupting star formation. They are produced by the merger of galaxies and are powered by black holes found in the core of the galaxies. By combining optical and millimetre-wave observations obtained with Very Large Telescope (VLT) and Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescopes in Chile, the team identified a galaxy interacting with another that hosts a quasar and found that radiation from the quasar altered the structure of the other galaxy's interstellar gas. What was left behind was not enough to form stars. The paper was published in Nature on May 21. IUCAA's director Raghunathan Srianand compared the phenomena to waking up a sleeping monster which will influence everything around it. "While it was predicted in theory, there was no direct evidence until now," he added. Srianand explained that black holes are at the centres of all galaxies. "Like a hungry monster, black holes swallow everything that fall into them and emit radiation which is called a quasar. Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 5 Books Warren Buffett Wants You to Read In 2025 Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo When the black hole doesn't have gases to feed on it becomes quiet. Because nothing is falling in, no radiation is emitted," he said. Theoretical scientists believe that black holes are quiet because there is no gas around but they come alive when one or more galaxies collide with them. "Suppose there is a black hole in a galaxy. If another galaxy interacts with it, it can attract some gas from the second galaxy and become active because it has the fuel. The theory that when two galaxies merge, the black hole in the centre will become bright was proposed a long time ago, this is the first time it was observed by us last year," said Srianand. Srianand said if a black hole is quiet in a galaxy, the surrounding regions will behave differently compared to one radiating light. Scientists predicted that such radiation will destroy, evaporate, or heat the gas in the surrounding region where new generations of stars are formed. Consequently, that region must wait until the gas around the black hole is completely consumed by it, and it becomes quiet once more. "Essentially, we found two things: that when there is a merger, there will be a quasar. The second is that when there is a quasar, we can find how much material is present in the vicinity through calculations. It helps decide whether that much material is sufficient to form stars. In the present observation, we found that it is not sufficient to form stars." A year of difficult calculations and analysis An international team led by Sergei Balashev (Ioffe Institute, Saint Petersburg, Russia) and Pasquier Noterdaeme (Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, France) that includes IUCAA researchers Neeraj Gupta and Raghunathan Srianand are behind this discovery The team from IUCAA, France, Russia, and Chile has been working together for the last 20 years. The idea is to look into the faraway universe and detect molecules and other things For example, light from this object would have taken about 10 billion light years to reach us. If you take the universe's current age to be around 12 billion, it would have been two billion years then, Srianand said. quote We use a spectroscopic technique where one looks at emission, absorption lines, and radiation coming from various processes. This measurement is an extremely difficult one. It took us nearly a year to convince the community that what we are seeing is unique. What we observed has been confirmed through theoretical calculations as well as solid observational results Raghunathan Srianand I IUCAA's director
Indian Express
22-05-2025
- Science
- Indian Express
‘Prof Jayant Narlikar believed in nurturing children with love of science from young age': Educator remembers astrophysicist
Astrophysicist Prof Jayant Narlikar believed children should be nurtured with the love of science from a young age, and he realised his dream to set up a children's science centre at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) in Pune in 2004, said Prof Arvind Gupta, a science educator and toy inventor. Prof Gupta, 71, a Padma Shri awardee, well known for turning trash into toys that children can make themselves while learning the basic principles of science, recalled his association with Prof Narlikar, who passed away at the age of 86 Tuesday. His mortal remains were kept at the Bhaskara foyer at IUCAA Wednesday morning for the public to pay their final respects. 'He (Prof Narlikar) would often argue that good PhD students did not fall from the sky,' Prof Gupta said on the occasion. 'In 2003, I was invited by JVN (Prof Narlikar) to work in the IUCAA's children's science centre (Muktangan Exploratory Science Centre). Initially, I was reluctant to work in a government institute. But JVN assured me that I could help shape the science centre, and if I did not like it, I could quit after six months. So, I initially joined for six months, but ended up working there for 11 years,' he said. Prof Narlikar was the founder-director of the IUCAA in Pune and was known for his seminal works in cosmology and most importantly, for believing in an alternate model to the popular Big Bang theory for the origin of the universe. In 1988, Prof Narlikar founded the IUCAA within the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU). Professor Narlikar was India's most celebrated astrophysicist, having received the second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan in 2004. Two decades earlier, he was honored with the Kalinga Award, UNESCO's highest recognition for science popularisation. A large donation from Sunita Deshpande, the wife of his late friend Pu La Deshpande, a cultural icon of Maharashtra, turned this dream into reality and the children's exploratory science centre was inaugurated in 2004 by Prof Yash Pal, a fellow Kalinga awardee who shared his vision of science. 'Right from its inception, IUCAA had an active public outreach programme. Every second Saturday, there was a popular science lecture/demonstration for some 1,000 students and teachers from over 100 schools in Pune. This tradition still continues. JVN started the students' summer internship programme. During summer holidays, children would work with scientists on some projects. That gave children a feel for what goes into doing science,' Prof Gupta said. Prof Gupta also spoke about Dr Vidula Mhaiskar, who is now with Garware Bal Bhavan, Pune; and Ashok Rupner, now with Indrani Balan Science Centre, IISER, who had joined him at IUCAA's children's science centre. 'In 2004, we set up the popular website We started uploading science projects – photographs, videos, and popular books on the website. We made over 8,700 videos in 15 languages and uploaded them on YouTube. We had 3.7 lakh subscribers, and we were the second-largest YouTube channel from India at one stage. Today, 12 crore children worldwide have viewed our 2-minute 'toys from trash' videos,' Prof Gupta said. Dr Gupta also recalled that the anti-superstition activist Dr Narendra Dabholkar often collaborated with Prof Narlikar. 'Prof JVN was a renaissance scientist. He wrote prolifically in his mother tongue, Marathi, and was a pioneer of science fiction writing. He was a rationalist and consistently debunked pseudoscience. Dr Narendra Dabholkar often collaborated with JVN, who was invited widely to give lectures to school and college children,' he added. According to reports, Dr Dabholkar also conducted a statistical test on the accuracy of horoscopes with Prof Narlikar. The report was published in the journal Current Science. Anuradha Mascarenhas is a journalist with The Indian Express and is based in Pune. A senior editor, Anuradha writes on health, research developments in the field of science and environment and takes keen interest in covering women's issues. With a career spanning over 25 years, Anuradha has also led teams and often coordinated the edition. ... Read More
