Naralikar conferred ASI's first Govind Swarup Lifetime Achievement award

Veteran astronomer Jayant Naralikar was on Friday conferred the first Govind Swarup Lifetime Achievement Award instituted by the Astronomical Society of India ASI.ASI President Dipankar Banerjee travelled to Pune to personally hand over the award to Naralikar, who was unable to travel to Indore earlier this year for the 41st meeting of the Society.Naralikar, a past president of ASI, was the founding director of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics IUCAA and amongst the first to initiate cosmology research in the country.The award is named in honour of Prof.

Veteran astronomer Jayant Naralikar was on Friday conferred the first Govind Swarup Lifetime Achievement Award instituted by the Astronomical Society of India (ASI).

ASI President Dipankar Banerjee travelled to Pune to personally hand over the award to Naralikar, who was unable to travel to Indore earlier this year for the 41st meeting of the Society.

Naralikar, a past president of ASI, was the founding director of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) and amongst the first to initiate cosmology research in the country.

The award is named in honour of Prof. Govind Swarup (1929-2020), widely regarded to be the founder of radio astronomy in the country. ''Though their domains of work differed widely, both Prof. Swarup and Prof. Narlikar remained deeply committed to the growth of astronomy and astrophysics in the country by building exemplary institutions and devoting enormous efforts towards training the younger generations,'' Banerjee said.

Swarup, founding director of the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), conceived of and led the construction of the Ooty Radio Telescope (ORT) and the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) using innovative, cost-effective ideas optimised for the Indian environment. He was a visionary and one of the strongest early proponents of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).