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Six Science Posts - Dr. Jayant Narlikar
Harshal Chhaya
May 21, 2025
Six tweets that celebrate Dr. Jayant Narlikar.
I scroll so you don’t have to.
Dr. Narlikar was an Indian astrophysicist and an wonderful educator - formally and informally. He passed away on May 20 2025.
His TV shows, his books, his lectures all made science accessible and interesting.
He was also a mythbuster and worked tirelessly to dispel superstitions and myths.
He helped established the Nehru Science Center - one of the first hands-on and interactive science museums in India.
He was very impactful for many Indians growing up in the 80s and the 90s.
I was one of them. Thank you Dr. Narlikar for everything you did to make science understandable and real.
This issue of the newsletter is a tribute to Dr. Narlikar.
#1 🤯
.@IndiaDST bids farewell to Prof. Jayant Vishnu Narlikar, one of India’s most brilliant astrophysicists & a beloved science communicator.
From co-developing the Hoyle–Narlikar theory of gravity to founding @IUCAAstro, Prof. Narlikar was a giant who shaped Indian cosmology.
— DSTIndia (@IndiaDST)
8:24 AM • May 20, 2025
#2 🤯
I have uploaded a Copy of Prof. Narlikar and Dr. Dabholkar's paper on the internet archive. (Dated in it's own way, but still relevant and the only test done and published in an Indian context I could find) I couldn't find a free copy anywhere.
archive.org/details/narlik…
— Neel Kolhe (@neel_kolhe)
8:49 AM • May 20, 2025
Swapnil’s X thread says:
“In the 2010s Naralikar, Dabholkar and 2 others(I think) ran a famous experiment through the paper Sakal. They devised a statistical test of astrology. They took horoscopes of the 100 scholarly students and 100 of those with learning difficulties.
After randomizing 2 sets of 40 of these were selected and astrologers were invited to guess which horoscope belonged to which group. The passing cutoff was 70% 28. Out of the 50 plus astrologers the highest anyone got was 17. A random person guessed 24 correctly.”
This is classic Dr. N. Using statistics to disprove unscientific theories.
Thanks to Neel for finding and sharing the paper at https://archive.org/details/narlikar-statisticaltestastrology-2009-removed-1-1
#3 🤯
Indian astrophysicist Jayant Narlikar has died. He famously questioned the Big Bang theory, that the universe was created “in about three minutes” after something happened to nothing. “Chai takes longer," he once told me.
— Manu Joseph (@manujosephsan)
3:11 PM • May 20, 2025
#4 🤯
My favourite quote of Dr Jayant Narlikar- “There is much to be proud of, about Indian contribution to science, mathematics and astronomy.
Making outlandish claims about our past which can’t be substantiated, calls into question even our legitimate contributions.”
— Ruben Mascarenhas (@rubenmasc)
7:05 AM • May 20, 2025
#5 🤯
Jayant Narlikar is a renowned Indian astrophysicist who has made significant contributions to various fields of astronomy and cosmology. He developed the Hoyle-Narlikar theory of gravity with Sir Fred Hoyle, which is a conformal theory that incorporates Mach’s principle and the
— Physics In History (@PhysInHistory)
5:21 PM • Mar 25, 2025
#6 🤯
A playlist of some wonderful talks and interactions by or including Prof. Jayant V Narlikar recorded by @IUCAAScipop at @IUCAAstro over the years. His commitment to fostering scientific temper across society was phenomenal.
— IUCAA Scipop (@IUCAAScipop)
7:57 AM • May 20, 2025
About
This newsletter is my way of sharing interesting science-related news with my curious friends. I enjoy finding science and math connections in our world.
Please share this newsletter with others. Let’s encourage curiosity.
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Let’s all celebrate science and engineering and curiosity.
Best wishes,
Harshal