A scientist who loved children
R. Ramanujam, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru

Do you know of any Indian scientist who wrote his autobiography in his mother tongue? Not only that, do you know that it was so well written and had such literary merit that it got him the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award? This was an eminent scientist who wrote extensively: not only scientific papers, but also essays for the public, science fiction and short stories for school children, and all this in his mother tongue. 
Such a description fixes one unique individual, and that was Jayant Vishnu Narlikar, a renowned astrophysicist who passed away in Pune recently, on May 20, 2025 at the age of 86. Interestingly, people from all walks of life attended Narlikar's funeral which was conducted with state honours. Not only did the crowd include scientists and government officials, but also artists, writers and housekeeping staff, attesting to Narlikar's impact on society.
Early Success
Jayant Narlikar was born on July 19, 1938 in Kolhapur, Maharashtra. His father Vishnu Narlikar was a mathematics professor at Benares Hindu University in Varanasi and his mother Sumati was a Sanskrit scholar. Jayant Narlikar excelled in his studies, earning a scholarship to Cambridge University in the UK. In 1959, at the age of 21, he completed the prestigious Mathematical Tripos, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and being recognised as a Wrangler, a Tyson Medallist, and a Senior Wrangler. In 1962, he also won the Smith's Prize during his doctoral studies, an award for exceptional work in theoretical physics. 
Hoyle and Cosmology
At Cambridge, Narlikar’s biggest influence came from his mentor, the renowned British astronomer Fred Hoyle. Narlikar's theoretical work with Hoyle on cosmology, the origins of the early universe, proved to be very original and interesting.

A fundamental question that has always intrigued humanity is how the Universe came into being. For those who believe in God, the answer is simple: God created the Universe. Scientists would prefer materialist explanations that can be corroborated by evidence. By now, we have data accumulated from a few centuries of observations that lead us to the so-called Big Bang Theory: it states that all matter and energy in the Universe came into existence in one single instance about 13.8 billion years ago. 

Narlikar and Hoyle did not accept the Big Bang theory; instead they proposed a Steady State Theory, in which the (infinite) Universe experiences continuous creation (and destroying) of matter. They developed a theory of gravity that attempted to synthesise Einstein's general relativity with what is called Mach's principle: a philosophical notion suggesting that the inertia of every object is influenced by the presence of all the mass in the Universe. 

Narlikar explained the theory in his popular writing using the analogy of a bank: "To understand this concept better, think of capital invested in a bank which offers a fixed rate of compound interest. That is, the interest accrued is constantly added to the capital which therefore grows too, along with the interest." He explained that the Universe expanded like the capital with compound interest. However, the Universe always looks the same to the observer.

With regard to many scientific theories, as more data is collected, one of the theories receives confirmation: in this case, the Big Bang theory. However, many tools developed for the steady-state model remain useful today.

Narlikar continued to work on other non-standard models of the Universe, which reflects his deep commitment to critical thinking in the theoretical sciences. He stayed in Cambridge until 1971 as a founding member of the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy. 

In 1972 Narlikar joined the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, where he led the theoretical astrophysics group. He wanted to create an institution in India dedicated to frontline research in astrophysics and the democratisation of science. Towards this, he helped to found the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) in Pune and served as its Director until 2003. 

An important departure of IUCAA (from other established Indian research institutions) was its regular programs aimed at school children and the general public. Monthly lectures, science camps, and workshops became regular events. Narlikar brought in science educator Arvind Gupta and set up a children's science centre at IUCAA. 

Jayant Narlikar was also fierce in his commitment to nurturing scientific temper and condemnation of pseudo-science. In 2008, he co-authored a paper that challenged astrology using a statistical method, and then after wrote periodically on several instances of pseudo-science in India. Every time he was invited to talk to school children, he emphasised the importance of critical thinking in science and a commitment to data and calculation. Even in his last days, he continued to respond to letters from school children and writing about science on his blog: https://www.jvnarlikar.blog/

Narlikar insisted that the scientific method was the best way to debunk superstitions prevalent in society, and led some studies of this kind. He wrote science fiction, but his stories were always founded on scientific principles. One of his books in 1986 addressed ethical issues in Artificial Intelligence and in 2015, one of his stories envisioned a virus leading to a global pandemic.

Jantar Mantar salutes this extraordinary scientist and science writer.