Dr. Jayant Narlikar, one among India’s most distinguished astrophysicists who mixed profound theoretical perception into cosmology with a lifelong dedication to science communication, handed away at his residence in Pune on Tuesday (May 20. 2025). He was 86.
Describing what made Dr. Narlikar one of many “greats”, Dr. Tarun Souradeep, Director of the Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bengaluru, informed The Hindu that it was his “sense of justice and equality,” and his “unwavering commitment” to popularising science and combating “non-science-based superstition and astrology,” that set him aside.
As a gifted institution-builder, Dr. Narlikar performed a pioneering position in establishing the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, the place he served as Founder-Director. Under his stewardship, IUCAA emerged as a globally recognised centre for theoretical physics, cosmology, and astrophysics.
“He spawned a number of leading scientists who set new directions and schools: Thanu Padmanabhan (Cosmology, Gravitation and Quantum Gravity); Sanjeev Dhurandhar (Gravitational Waves); Ajit Kembhavi (Data-driven observational astronomy), to name a few,” Dr. Souradeep, who accomplished his doctoral analysis below Dr. Narlikar’s steering, mentioned.
A prolific writer and science populariser, Dr. Narlikar as soon as recalled in a weblog put up “playing table tennis with Stephen Hawking (prior to his muscular atrophy)” once they had been each college students on the University of Cambridge.
The then President Pranab Mukherjee presents the Lakshmipat Singhania-IIM, Lucknow National Leadership Award to Jayant Visnu Narlikar. File picture
| Photo Credit:
Shanker Chakravarty
Dr. Narlikar first gained worldwide recognition when, alongside the British astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle, he proposed the ‘steady state’ mannequin of the universe – a principle positing a timeless cosmos by which matter is repeatedly created. This stood in distinction to the dominant ‘Big Bang’ mannequin, a time period paradoxically coined by Hoyle to disparage it, which posits that the universe started at a single cut-off date.
Although subsequent observational proof has since firmly supported the Big Bang principle, Dr. Narlikar remained a persistent and vocal critic of it, adapting and refining the regular state view all through his profession.
“He wore his remarkable learning in various disciplines very lightly and he combined to an unusual degree formidable scholarship with humility. He was well and truly a most luminous star of Indian science, who reflected the noblest of our civilisational traditions,” Congress communications in-charge and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh tweeted. He additionally shared an excerpt from the 1964 version of Yojana – a Planning Commission publication – which debated whether or not India ought to lure the younger Narlikar again from Cambridge.
In a uncommon feat, Dr. Narlikar was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1965, even earlier than formally starting his profession in India on the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai. He later acquired the Padma Vibhushan in 2004.
Among his many accolades had been the UNESCO Kalinga Prize for the popularisation of science in 1996 and the celebrated Prix Jules Janssen from the French Astronomical Society in 2004.
Dr. Narlikar was additionally extensively admired for his literary contributions. His science-fiction story Dhoomaketu (The Comet) was tailored into a movie, whereas his autobiography Chaar Nagarantale Maze Vishwa (My Tale of Four Cities) was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Prize. His writing – marked by readability, an avoidance of jargon, and philosophical depth – explored themes starting from alien encounters to the ethical quandaries arising from fast technological progress.
The Vice-Chancellor of Benaras Hindu University, prof. Hari Gautam (left) presenting an hononory diploma of Doctor of sciences to Prof. Jayant Vishnu Narlikar, on the seventh conference of the BHU science college in Varanasi.
| Photo Credit:
The Hindu Archives
He was incessantly featured in science programmes on tv within the Nineties and credited Carl Sagan’s outreach work, in addition to the fiction of Sir Hoyle, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Ray Bradbury, as key influences in his strategy to speaking science.
Born to eminent mother and father – Vishnu Vasudev Narlikar, a mathematician at Benares Hindu University (now IIT-BHU), and Sumati Narlikar, a Sanskrit scholar – Dr. Narlikar acquired his early schooling in Varanasi earlier than transferring to the University of Cambridge, the place he accomplished his Ph.D. below Sir Hoyle’s mentorship.
Published – May 20, 2025 03:41 pm IST
