2. About the author

Jayant Vishnu Narlikar, also known as Jayant Narlikar was born on \(19\) July \(1938\) in Kolhapur. He is an Indian astrophysicist and professor at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics. Narlikar belonged to a scholar family. His father named Vishnu Vasudev Narlikar, was a mathematician and a professor at Banaras Hindu University. His mother, named Sumati Narlikar, was a scholar of Sanskrit. Narlikar did his schooling at Central Hindu School, formerly known as Central Hindu College.

 

 
After completing his schooling, Narlikar did his graduation from Cambridge University. During his doctoral studies at Cambridge University, he won the Smith's Prize in \(1962\). Later, he earned his doctorate degree under the guidance of Fred Hoyle in \(1963\). Afterwards, Fred Hoyle established the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy in \(1966\), and Narlikar served as the founding staff member of the institute from \(1966\) to \(1972\). \(In 1972\), Narlikar took up Professorship at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, India. 
 
Later, Narlikar and his PhD advisor, Sir Fred Hoyle, created the conformal gravity theory. The theory is also known as Hoyle–Narlikar theory. Narlikar has written several science fiction novels and short stories in Hindi, English, and Marathi. He also serves as a consultant for the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) of India's Science and Mathematics textbooks.