Beginning with his student days at school and college, the author describes his training at Cambridge with special emphasis on his mentor Fred Hoyle. His early experience of participating in a controversy at Cambridge...Beginning with his student days at school and college, the author describes his training at Cambridge with special emphasis on his mentor Fred Hoyle. His early experience of participating in a controversy at Cambridge played a major role in giving him the confidence to defend his scientific ideas. All through his later life he chose areas that were not part of mainstream research. These included the steady state theory and later the quasi steady state cosmology, action at a distance, noncosmological redshifts, quantum conformal cosmology, etc. After being a founding member of the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy（IOTA） at Cambridge, the author joined the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research（TIFR） in Mumbai and later moved to Pune to set up the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics（IUCAA）. He briefly reviews his own work and ends by pointing out the difficulties a non-conformist scientist faces in his professional life. In the conclusion, he mentions his interests in science popularization and science fiction for which he has won awards and appreciation, including UNESCO’s Kalinga Prize.展开更多
The observed microwave background radiation （MBR） is commonly in- terpreted as the relic of an early hot universe, and its observed features （spectrum and anisotropy） are explained in terms of properties of the ea...The observed microwave background radiation （MBR） is commonly in- terpreted as the relic of an early hot universe, and its observed features （spectrum and anisotropy） are explained in terms of properties of the early universe. Here we describe a complementary, even possibly alternative, interpretation of MBR, first proposed in the early 20th century, and adapt it to modern observations. For example, the stellar Hipparcos data show that the energy density of starlight from the Milky Way, if suit- ably thermalized, yields a temperature of ~2.81 K. This and other arguments given here strongly suggest that the origin of MBR may lie, at least in a very large part, in re-radiation of thermalized galactic starlight. The strengths and weaknesses of this alternative radical explanation are discussed.展开更多
基金supported in part by the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physicssupported by the Government of Canada through Industry Canadaby the Province of Ontario through the Ministry of Research and Innovation
文摘Beginning with his student days at school and college, the author describes his training at Cambridge with special emphasis on his mentor Fred Hoyle. His early experience of participating in a controversy at Cambridge played a major role in giving him the confidence to defend his scientific ideas. All through his later life he chose areas that were not part of mainstream research. These included the steady state theory and later the quasi steady state cosmology, action at a distance, noncosmological redshifts, quantum conformal cosmology, etc. After being a founding member of the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy（IOTA） at Cambridge, the author joined the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research（TIFR） in Mumbai and later moved to Pune to set up the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics（IUCAA）. He briefly reviews his own work and ends by pointing out the difficulties a non-conformist scientist faces in his professional life. In the conclusion, he mentions his interests in science popularization and science fiction for which he has won awards and appreciation, including UNESCO’s Kalinga Prize.
基金supported in part by the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical PhysicsResearch at the Perimeter Institute is supported by the Government of Canada through Industry Canadaby the Province of Ontario through the Ministry of Research and Innovation
文摘The observed microwave background radiation （MBR） is commonly in- terpreted as the relic of an early hot universe, and its observed features （spectrum and anisotropy） are explained in terms of properties of the early universe. Here we describe a complementary, even possibly alternative, interpretation of MBR, first proposed in the early 20th century, and adapt it to modern observations. For example, the stellar Hipparcos data show that the energy density of starlight from the Milky Way, if suit- ably thermalized, yields a temperature of ~2.81 K. This and other arguments given here strongly suggest that the origin of MBR may lie, at least in a very large part, in re-radiation of thermalized galactic starlight. The strengths and weaknesses of this alternative radical explanation are discussed.
