Gujarat: Pankaj Joshi receives Vainu Bappu award

AHMEDABAD: Well-known astrophysicist and provost of Charusat University, Pankaj Joshi, has been awarded the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) -

Vainu

Bappu award for his contribution to black hole physics, gravitation and cosmology.


Considered to the be topmost award in the country in the field of science, the 18 recipients for this award so far include four Nobel laureates. “Indeed, this award has brought glory to Gujarat, CHARUSAT and GSA.” said Surendra Patel, a senior BJP leader and president, CHARUSAT.

The citation of the award reads: “Joshi’s extensive analysis of general relativistic gravitational collapse has been widely recognized as providing key significant insights into the final fate of massive collapsing stars in the universe, space-time singularities and cosmic censorship.”

“It is satisfying that this top international award from INSA has recognized our frontier works on collapsing stars and black holes. I sincerely hope this will inspire our young researchers to work on this exciting development in cosmology,” said Joshi who is also the president of Gujarat Science Academy. Born in Bhavnagar, Joshi has earlier worked as a senior professor in astrophysics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai.

The award citation further reads, “Over past years, his paradigmchanging work has shown that massive stars could collapse to black holes, or exploding fireballs called naked singularities, and astrophysical and quantum gravity signatures of these are being explored now,” it says. Joshi, who has over 200 publications in reputed international journals and books, has been widely recognized for his works on the final fate of supermassive stars.

According to Joshi’s findings, they could explode to fireballs called naked singularities and astrophysical and quantum gravity signatures of these are being explored now.

Bappu, popularly known as the comet hunter, is the only Indian who has a comet and an asteroid in his name. Indian National Science Academy (INSA), New Delhi is a national level scientific body, under the department of science and technology - government of India. It is considered as the topmost science academy of the country.

The award is given to astronomers and astrophysicists of international recognition. The first award, announced in 1985, was given to famous Indian- American astrophysicist, Prof S Chandrasekhar, who later won the Nobel Prize.

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