Dr. Jayant Narlikar
Vijay
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