Vishnu Vasudeva Narlikar

Background

Vishnu Vasudeva Narlikar was born on September 26, 1908 in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India. His father Vasudevshastri Narlikar was a pandit in Sanskrit and delivered pravachans. Vishnu was the youngest among three brothers.

Education

Vishnu Vasudeva Narlika studied at the Vidyapeeth High School and Rajaram College in Kolhapur. He continued with his education despite his father's demise and secured the fourth rank in the Matriculation exam. He won scholarships and studied at the Elphinstone College and Royal Institute of Science in Mumbai. Upon receiving his Bachelor of Science from the University of Mumbai in 1928, Narlikar continued studies at the Cambridge University in England, where he passed the Mathematics tripos in 1930.

His studies at Cambridge were sponsored by the J.N. Tata Endowment Scholarship. He also received a loan from the Kolhapur State, with a condition that he would be employed with the Kolhapur State upon his return to India. Vishnu Narlikar became a Star Wrangler after completing the Mathematical Tripos at the Cambridge University. He was also a recipient of the Isaac Newton Studentship and the Rayleigh Prize.

Career

Vishnu Vasudeva Narlikar returned to India in 1932 as professor of Mathematics and Head of the Department of Mathematics at the Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi at a young age of 24. Madan Mohan Malaviya, the founder of the Banaras Hindu University, repaid the debt which Narlikar owed to the Kolhapur State, thereby making it possible for Narlikar to work at the University. He became a professor of Mathematics at the University of Poona (now Savitribai Phule Pune University) in 1966 and retired in 1973. From 1960 to 1966 he served as the chairman of the Rajasthan Public Service Commission. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1931. He served as the president of the Indian Mathematical Society from 1981-1982.

Membership

• National Institute of Sciences of India , India

• Indian Academy of Sciences , India

• Royal Astronomical Society , London

• National Academy of Sciences

Connections

In 1932, Narlikar married Shridevi Navare of Mumbai, but she died due to illness within few years. He then married Krishna (née Sumati) Huzurbazar, sister of V. S. Huzurbazar, in 1937. Vishnu and Sumati had two sons, the astrophysicist Jayant and scientist Anant.

Father:

Vasudevshastri Narlikar

Spouse:

Shridevi Navare

Spouse:

Krishna Huzurbazar

Son:

Jayant

Son:

Anant