Jayant Narlikar conferred posthumously Vigyan Ratna Puraskar

India’s renowned astrophysicist, science communicator, and Padma Vibhushan awardee Jayant Narlikar has been posthumously conferred the Vigyan Ratna Puraskar, the country’s highest scientific honour.

Narlikar, who passed away on May 20 this year at the age of 86, was celebrated for his bold and unconventional ideas in cosmology. He challenged the Big Bang

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Theory, which posits that the universe originated from a single massive explosion and, along with British astronomer Fred Hoyle, proposed the Steady State Theory, suggesting that the universe has always existed, with new matter continuously created over time.

The Ministry of Science and Technology announced the second edition of the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar on Sunday. Along with the Vigyan Ratna, the awards include eight Vigyan Shri, 14 Vigyan Yuva, and one Vigyan Team Award.

Modelled on the lines of the Padma Awards, the Vigyan Puraskars aim to recognise and promote pathbreaking research and inspirational achievements by Indian scientists across 13 disciplines.

This year’s Vigyan Shri awardees span both applied and fundamental sciences, including agricultural sciences, space sciences, engineering, environmental sciences, physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics.

S Venkata Mohan, Director of the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), received the Vigyan Shri for his contributions to environmental sciences. Gyanendra Pratap Singh, a renowned wheat breeder, was honoured for his remarkable work in agricultural science.

Aniruddha Bhalchandra Pandit, Vice-Chancellor of the Institute of Chemical Technology, was recognised with the award in engineering sciences, while Yusuf Mohammad Sheikh, Director of the Physics Group at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), received it for his contributions to atomic energy.

K Thangaraj of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) won the award in biological sciences, and Pradeep Thalappil of IIT Madras was honoured in the field of chemistry.

Mahan Maharaj, a monk of the Ramakrishna Order and Professor of Mathematics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, received the Vigyan Shri in mathematics and computer science. Jayan N. of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre was recognised for his contributions to space science and technology.

The 14 Vigyan Yuva awardees include Jagdis Gupta Kapuganti, Satendra Kumar Mangrauthia (Agricultural Sciences), Debarka Sengupta, Deepa Agashe (Biological Sciences), Dibyendu Das (Chemistry), Waliur Rahaman (Earth Science), Arkaprava Basu (Engineering Sciences), Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Shweta Prem Agrawal (Mathematics and Computer Science), Suresh Kumar (Medicine), Amit Kumar Agarwal, Surhud Shrikant More (Physics), Ankur Garg (Space Science and Technology), and Mohanasankar Sivaprakasam (Technology and Innovation).

The CSIR Aroma Mission Team, which spearheaded the ‘Lavender Mission’ in Jammu and Kashmir, received the Vigyan Team Award for its outstanding collective contribution.