Jayant Narlikar Biography, Career, Early Life, Books, and More

Jayant Narlikar Biography

Born in Kolhapur, India, on July 19, 1938, Jayant Vishnu Narlikar is a distinguished author and a superb astrophysicist. For his contributions in the field of cosmology and for entertaining the scientific world with his fictitious tales, Narlikar’s life and work have apparently cast an unforgettable influence on both the realms of science and literature. In this blog, we are shedding light on Jayant Narlikar biography, also known as Jayant Vishnu Narlikar biography, books by Jayant Narlikar, Jayant Narlikar birthday, education, early life, and more. 

Jayant Narlikar Education and Early Life

Jayant Narlikar education and early life have always been a subject of public discussion as he belonged to a family of scholars. He came from a family of scholars, such as his father, Vishnu Vasudev Narlikar, who had academic backgrounds in mathematics and theoretical physics, in his mother, who also deems excellence as a Sanskrit scholar. Jayant went to Central Hindu College, now called Central Hindu Boys School, for schooling. He took his BSc degree from Banaras Hindu University in 1957. In 1959, Narlikar moved to Cambridge for higher studies, where he obtained a BA (Tripos) in mathematics and earned the distinction of Senior Wrangler. He received his PhD in 1963 while studying under the guidance of Fred Hoyle.

Jayant Narlikar Birthday

Jayant Narlikar birthday is celebrated on July 19 every year.

Career and Contributions Jayant Narlikar

Jayant Vishnu Narlikar biography is incomplete without discussing his contributions and achievements. Narlikar’s professional life is a series of distinguished appointments and path-breaking work. He served as a Berry Ramsey Fellow at King’s College, Cambridge, and was one of the early members of the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy. In 1972, he came back to India to become a member of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Mumbai, where he led the Theoretical Astrophysics Group. Then he fulfilled his dream by creating the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) in Pune in 1988, where he subsequently served as the first director.

Co-creating the Hoyle-Narlikar theory of gravitation with Fred Hoyle was one of Narlikar’s most significant scientific endeavors. It unifies relativity and Mach’s principle, linking inertial mass to all mass, with a time-varying coupling constant.

Jayant Narlikar Honors and Recognitions

Narlikar earned top honors, including the Padma Bhushan (1965) and Padma Vibhushan (2004), for his stellar contributions. Throughout his life, he was awarded a number of other awards and honors, such as the Smith Prize, the Adams Prize, the Kalinga Prize, and the Sahitya Akademi Award (for his autobiography) in 2014. In May 2023, the Astronomical Society of India awarded him the first-ever Govind Swarup Lifetime Achievement Award for singular scientific contributions to the field of astronomy and astrophysics.

Jayant Narlikar Books List

The biography of this famous personality is incomplete without discussing Jayant Narlikar books list. Narlikar is actually a wonderful scientist, and to top it all, a very great contributor to literature in the form of, possibly most notably, science fiction. He has authored numerous books on non-fiction and fiction in English, Hindi, and Marathi. His works on cosmology and astrophysics are “An Introduction to Cosmology,” “From Black Clouds to Black Holes,” and “Seven Wonders of the Cosmos.” At the same time, his fiction novels include books like “The Return of Vaman,” “The Comet,” and “Yakshanchi Denagi.”

Jayant Narlikar Personal Life

On the domestic front, he got married in 1962 to Mangala Narlikar, a professor of mathematics. To them were born three daughters: Geeta, a biomedical scientist at the University of California; Girija, Chief Engineer at Google; and Leelavati, faculty staff at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune. One of his nieces is Amrita Narlikar, who is a prestigious social science scholar at Cambridge University.

Jayant Narlikar Legacy

Jayant Narlikar’s legacy is a beautiful mix of scientific and literary innovation. His work in theory has enriched our knowledge of how the universe works. His books have also motivated generations to look beyond scientific papers into the realm of imagination. He built an environment as a teacher and as a leader to foster scientific thinking and literary tastes, the fruits of which will survive both these fields for years to come.

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