Jayant Narlikar and Steady-State Theory of the Universe

News: Professor Jayant Narlikar, an astrophysicist, passed away recently, is best known for his work on an alternative model of the universe, separate from the Big Bang. Jayant Narlikar and Steady-State Theory of the Universe

About ‘Steady State’ Theory of the Universe

• It was jointly proposed by Jayant Narlikar and Sir Fred Hoyle, so also known as the Hoyle-Narlikar theory.
• It was a theory positing a timeless cosmos in which matter is continuously created, stood in contrast to the dominant ‘Big Bang’ model, which posits that the universe began at a single point in time.
• This theory maintains that the universe has always been, and would continue to be, the way it is — infinite in extent, without a beginning or an end.
  • Unlike the Big Bang theory that suggests a definite beginning, and possibly an end, to the universe.
• It acknowledged an expanding universe, which was experimentally verifiable, but proposed that the universe was able to maintain a constant density by continuously creating new matter.

Criticism of Einstein’s general relativity equations

• In building this model, they also sought to modify Einstein’s general relativity.
  • In general relativity, gravity arises out of local curvature of space-time caused by heavy objects.
• Hoyle and Narlikar proposed that gravity at any location in the universe could also be affected by far-away objects. In a way, all the matter everywhere in the universe contributes to gravity at any given place.
• In an expanding universe, the distribution of matter in the universe would change, and that would affect gravity at any given location.
• To keep gravity unchanged, Hoyle and Narlikar had to introduce the idea of constant creation of matter.

Decline of the theory

• The steady-state theory slowly lost out, with the emergence of new observations that fit the Big Bang model better e.g. the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation in 1965.
  • CMB refers to the microwave radiation that fills the universe and is considered to be remnants of the Big Bang event.
• Some of the work of Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose on singularities, piled more evidence in support of the Big Bang theory.

Institutional contributions of Professor Jayant Narlikar

• He played a pioneering role in establishing the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune.

National recognitions

• Padma Bhushan in 1965
• Padma Vibhushan in 2004

International recognitions

• UNESCO Kalinga Prize for the popularisation of science in 1996
• Prix Jules Janssen from the French Astronomical Society in 2004

Literary contributions

• A science-fiction story Dhoomaketu (The Comet)
• His autobiography Chaar Nagarantale Maze Vishwa (My Tale of Four Cities) was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Prize.