Jayant V. Narlikar's Summarized Biography

• Birth place : Kolhapur, Maharashtra, Date: July-19-1938

• Studies: "University Children's School" and "Banaras Hindu University"

• Higher Studies: (Mathematics & Astronomy) in Fitzwilliam House, Cambridge.

• In 1960, he is recruited as a "Research Student " on the recommendation of Professor Fred Hoyle

• Studies in Cambridge, U.K., from 1957 to 1972. He receives the " B.A. in 1960, the M.A. in 1964 and the "Ph.D. degrees" in 1963

• In 1963, he is named "Fellow of King's College".

• In 1966 he becomes "Staff Member of the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy" in Cambridge University.

• Jayant V. Narlikar returns to India in 1972 as professor at the "Tata Institute of Fundamental Research" where he manages the Theoretical Group for Astrophysics.

• In 1976, the "Sc.D. (Cantab) Degree"  is granted him for "Distinguished Research".

The first works done by J.V. Narlikars with F. Hoyle concerned the theory of the steady state universe. This work gave at first a reliable theory describing the continuous creation of matter within the framework of the "General Relativity Theory" of Einstein. Hoyle and Narlikar also gave a complete description of the quantic electrodynamic, as good as the classical one, while using the concept of action from afar. Their work on electrodynamics led them to a new theory of gravitation that now is known as the "conformal theory of gravity".

In India, Narlikar continued his work in cosmology and in astrophysics. He studied the supplementary implications of his gravitation theory; his later work with P.K. Das of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics provides an explanation for abnormal redshifts of quasars.

With his colleague K.M.V. Apparao of the TIFR and N. Dadhich of the Poma University, Narlikar developed the white hole concept as exploding sources of energy thus explaining some of the violent phenomena in the universe. In 1978 Narlikars and S.MS. Chitre of the TIFR proposed the hypothesis of the gravitational curvature of radio waves due to the presence of galaxies, to explain the apparent high velocities (greater than light) observed in certain quasars during the last decade. The work of Narlikar also concerns research on the behavior of tachyons in strong gravitational fields. Between 1977 and 1985 he took part in the survey of the quantic variations of space-time singularities at the beginning of the universe. He is also an active participant in the ongoing controversy about the distance of quasars.

With Fred Hoyle and Geoffrey Burbidge, he took part more recently in a rebirth of the old concept of the stationary universe under a new format, the "Quasi-Steady State Cosmology", in which the universe is subjected to short-term oscillations superimposed on a long-term steady expansion. In this model the universe has neither a beginning nor an end; matter is created periodically. Together with Fred Hoyle, he resumes their previous work on the quantic electrodynamics to show that the limiting cosmological conditions lead to a cut-off at high frequencies, thus resolving the diverging integrals.

Praises, titles and rewards that J.V. Narlikar received, in India and in other countries are innumerable. J.V. Narlikar is member of the Indian National Sciences Academy (INSA), Associated member of the Philosophical Society (Cambridge). He is also member of the Indian Society of Physics, of the Indian Astronomical Society and of the Indian General Relativity and Gravitation Society. The Golden Medal of the Golden Jubilee has been granted him by the Science Institute of Bombay in 1973. He received in 1978 the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar, a reward reserved for the Physical Sciences. In 1983 he was named Partner of the Royal Astronomical Society in London. The FIE Foundation conferred him its highest reward, the Golden Medal of the Asian Society, etc....
May 4th, 2004, the Société Astronomique de France awarded the 2004 Janssen Price to J.V. Narlikar. The prize-giving took place in Collège de France. (Paris)  §

Beside of his scientific research, Narlikar has written non-technical books and articles in order to popularize science as well in Indian language as well as in English. His book on astronomy has been published by the "Maharashtra State Board Literature of and Culture". He has also written several science-fiction stories and three novels. He participated in radio and television programs about sciences of the universe in Hindi and in English in 1995 which were censored by Doordarshan (national public television). Since 1997 he appears regularly on the television program "Surabhi" in which he answers scientific questions from the public For these services of science popularization he received several national rewards including the "INSA's Indira Gandhi Award" of INSA, the "UNESCO's Kalinga Award" and the "Godavari Gaurav Puraskar" of the "Kusumagraj Pratishthan".

J.V. Narlikar participated from 1986 to 1990 in several national committees, particularly the "Science Advisory Council" to the Prime Minister, from 1985 to 1989 the "Indo-US Sub-Commission on Education and Culture". In 1994 he became President of the "Commission Cosmologie" of the "International Astronomical Union".

In 1966 Jayant Narlikars married Mangala Rajwade. They have three girls, Geeta, Girija and Leelavati.

In 1988 Narlikars was nominated the Founder-Director of the Inter-University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) situated at Pune, by the "University Grants Commision" He arrived at Pune in June 1989 to take charge full-time of this activity. He continues his teaching, his research and his original publications while taking on the challenge of making IUCAA an international level institution.

J.V. Narlikar taught, during 2003-2004, in the "Collège de France" (Paris), J.V. "Facts and speculations in Cosmology" (translated in French from the original English version), which shows the inadequacies and the defects of the standard theory (Big Bang).
We thank, on one hand, Mr Jayant V. Narlikar for the confidence that he was kind enough to grant us by authorizing us the installation, on this site, of this document; on the other hand Mr Jean-Claude Pecker who supported us in this step, and also the Chaire Internationale du Collège de France.
The original file, is also available on the site of the "Commission Cosmologie" of  "Société Astronomique de France".
A summary of Mr Jayant V . Narlikar's courses should be published in the next "Annuaire du Collège de France" (January, 2005).
As a supplement to mister Narlikar's courses, in the Collège de France, was organized from 8 till 11 June 2004, a Colloquium "Cosmology : Facts and Problems".
The annals of this colloquium were edited by Jean-Claude Pecker and Jayant V. Narlkar, and published by Cambridge University Press, under the title "Current Issues in Cosmology".  New
 

Documents:

1. The inaugural lesson of Professor Jayant Vishnu Narlikar made in Collège de France on Thursday, November 20th, 2003 is available under the title "Faits et spéculations en cosmologie" (Facts and speculations in cosmology), under the shape of a part published by Fayard. You can order it in all bookshops and also via internet.(ISBN: 2 213 62021 0)

2. Inflation for Astronomers. The critical analysis of the standard model. taken back and detailed in 2003/4 in College deFrance.

3. Faits et spéculations en Cosmologie (French).

4. Croire au Big Bang est un acte de foi. (To believe in Big Bang is an act of faith) - La Recherche (French)

5. Cosmology and Cosmogony in a Cyclic Universe.

6. J.V. Narlikar's Homepage.

7. Narlikar's Publications (1).

8. Narlikar's Publications (2).

9. Observational Cosmology: caveats and open questions in the standard model (Martín López-Corredoira - 06/01/2006).