- P. C. Vaidya
-
Prahladbhai Chunilal Vaidya Born 23 May 1918
Shahpur, Junagadh, Gujarat, IndiaDied 12 March 2010 (aged 91)
Ahmedabad, Gujarat, IndiaResidence Germany, Italy, Switzerland, USA Citizenship India Fields Physics, Mathematics Institutions Banaras Hindu University Varanasi India
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
V.V. Nagar Science College
Visnagar Science College
Gujarat UniversityKnown for Vaidya Metric
Vaidya–Patel solution
Einstein field equationsSpouse Vidya Gauri Prahalad Chunnilal Vaidya (P.C.Vaidya; May 23, 1918 – March 12, 2010), was an Indian physicist and mathematician, renowned for his instrumental work in general theory of relativity. Apart from his scientific career, he was also a profound thought leader, visionary educationist and a staunch follower of Gandhian philosophy in post-independence India, specifically in his domicile state Gujarat.
Contents
Biography
Birth and Academic Life
P. C. Vaidya was born in Shahpur of Junagadh district, Gujarat, India on May 23, 1918.
Since his childhood, he had demonstrated extraordinary abilities in the field of Mathematics. He completed most of his schooling in Bhavnagar, and went to Mumbai for further study. There, after completing his high school at Ismail Yusuf College, he joined the Institute of Science (Royal Institute of Science during colonial India). He received his B.Sc. degree with Mathematics and Physics as major subjects. He achieved his M.Sc. degree with Applied Mathematics major.
In 1942, P. C. Vaidya expressed his desire to study relativity through his letters to Professor V. V. Narlikar, father of renowned Indian physicist Jayant Narlikar. Upon his approval, he quickly packed his bags and went to Banaras Hindu University(BHU), Varanasi. There he joined the school of relativity, where he studied for about ten months.
At that time, India's freedom struggle was at its peak with Quit India movement. The political situation was extremely chaotic due to World War II. He had there with him his wife Vidya and a six months old daughter to support solely on his past savings. Amid that set of tense situations, the idea of a spacetime geometry sprouted within his mind. It took only a week for Vaidya to come up with supporting mathematics. The result was Vaidya Metric.
Professor Vaidya obtained his Doctoral degree (Ph.D.) in mathematics in 1949.
Professional career
Vaidya's exceptional academic credentials made him highly desired faculty across institutions in both India and abroad.
After his research stint at BHU, he went to a number of places to teach mathematics, including reputed Science institutions in Surat, Rajkot and Mumbai. During a small period of 1947 – 48, he went to Tata Institute of Fundamental Research as Research Associate. There he got associated with Homi Bhabha, father of India's nuclear program. Due to accommodation constraints, he left Mumbai, and continued the rest of his academic career in Gujarat. From 1948 to 1971, he taught at various colleges including: V. P. College, Vallabh Vidyanagar; Gujarat College, Ahmedabad; M.N. College, Visnagar; and University School of Sciences, Gujarat University.
Seeing his excellent academic track record, in 1971, he was appointed Chairman of Gujarat Public Service Commission. This was followed by Union Public Service Commission membership during 1977 – 78, during which he served Central Government.
His final professional benchmark was the Vice Chancellorship of Gujarat University during 1978 – 80. Though brief, it had a lasting impression on Gujarati Academics, as there he remained involved in his teaching even after the end of his career. For a long time, the image of him visiting the campus on big black bicycle wearing Gandhian cap kept students of Gujarat University amazed and inspired. It was here that he gradually began to shift his focus from mere research to large scale improvements in mathematics education across Gujarat and India.
International Contributions
During 1964 to 1973, Vaidya served as visiting professor at number of international universities, including:
- Visiting Professor of Mathematics at Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, USA.
- Visiting Professor of Mathematics at London University (Queen Elizabeth College), York University and Newcastle University in UK.
- Visiting Scientist at Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies, Dublin, Ireland.
- Visiting Scientist at International Centre for Theoretical Physics at Trieste, Italy.
Vaidya's contribution to the international science community had been regular. In June 1971, he delivered a very informative course of lectures at the Institute Henrie Poincare, Paris in June 1971. In July 1971, he attended 6th International Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation at Copenhagen.
Death
For last several years, Professor Vaidya had confined himself to his Shardanagar house in Ahmedabad due to deteriorating health. He was detected with a kidney ailment in January 2010. On March 12, 2010 his condition worsened. He died at early morning.
His family legacy consists of his four daughters, Kumud, Smita, Darshana and Hina, and their families.
Work
Einstein’s theory of gravity is described by a set of complicated equations which use the mathematics of Riemannian geometry. It is very quite complex to implore what describe a physically interesting and practically realizable solution. Professor Vaidya took up on this mission, and accomplished pioneering work which led to conception of such a solution. The result was The Vaidya Metric.
Professor Vaidya's research on general theory of relativity was started when he went to Banaras Hindu University in 1942, where he joined the school of relativity started by Professor V. V. Narlikar. It was only ten months that he spent at BHU at that time, during which the revolutionary idea of developing a spacetime geometry was born within him, which would describe the gravitational potentials in the exterior of a radiating star.
There was pioneering work done around the same area, but it was helpful up to some extent. The well-known Schwarzschild Solution describes the geometry around a spherical star. However, it necessarily assumes the exterior of the star to be empty. Vaidya generalized this case to incorporate the radiation from the star, and the resulting solution was famous Vaidya metric. Till date, Vaidya is known to be one of the pioneers of the Golden age of general relativity.
Invention of Vaidya Metric gave Professor Vaidya worldwide reputation at small age of 24, even before the beginning of his professional career.
The Vaidya Metric
Vaidya Metric applies to a set Einstein’s equations that describes the gravitational field of a star which has a sizable radiation. It pioneered the key idea of using the light rays as a coordinate frame. In other words, it was an idea of a null coordinate, which eventually played extremely significant role in subsequent research in gravitation theory during forthcoming decades. The Vaidya metric has by now found many applications in gravitation theory. It is widely used and internationally cited to study many problems in gravitation and general relativity.
Contributions to Scientific Community
In February 1969, in an occasion to felicitate Professor V. V. Narlikar on his 60th birthday, Professor Vaidya made a proposition to found a society of Indian relativists. The result was Indian Association for General Relativity and Gravitation (IAGRG), and Professor V. V. Narlikar assumed the position of founder President.
At his suggestion, Vikram Sarabhai laid foundation of mathematics laboratory in Ahmedabad, a pioneering institute of its kind in India. It is known today as the Community Science Center.
Professor Vaidya also established the Gujarat Mathematical Society.
Professional Affiliations
- Founder member of Indian Association for General Relativity and Gravitation (IAGRG).
- Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences (F.A.Sc.).
- Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy (F.N.A).
- President of Calcutta Mathematical Society for 2 years.
- Honorary Fellow of Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune.
- President of the Indian Mathematical Society - 1976 and 1977.
- A Founder Member of an International Journal “General Relativity and Gravitation”, which is published from Berne, Switzerland.
- Member of Indian National Committee on Astronomy- 1976 to 1979.
- President of the U.G.C. Committee on Relativity and Cosmology.
- Participated in activities that led to revision of state-level syllabi of Mathematics textbooks.
- Founded Gujarat Ganit Mandal in 1964 in Bhavnagar. He presided over it in 1964 and 1988. Since inception, it organizes programs in rural areas periodically to spread mathematics across all layers of society.
Literary Work
Professor Vaidya's profound scientific contributions had phenomenal impact in journals and publications. During his life, he authored or co-authored more than thirty research papers in General Relativity and Gravitation. They are cited quite frequently in the field research since their publication.
In his efforts to popularize mathematics among Indian students, Professor Vaidya started ‘Suganitam’ mathematics magazine in 1960s. Since its inception, it has been continually read in numerous schools and colleges, and has inspired generations of mathematics teachers and students alike.
He authored several popular science books in Gujarati:
- Akhil Brahamandman ("In the entire Universe")
- Dashansh Paddhati Sha Mate? ("Why Decimal System?")
- Dadaji Ni Vato ("Grandpa's Tales") - a collection of science stories for children
- What is Modern Mathematics?
- Ganit Darshan ("Discourses in Mathematics"). This book won the 1970-71 prize for Gujarati Scientific Literature from Gujarat State Government.
Apart, he regularly wrote mathematical and scientific articles in leading Gujarati cultural magazine, Kumar, founded by Kalaguru (leading painter, art teacher, art critic, journalist and essayist from Gujarat, India) Ravishankar Raval.
Inspiring Traits
Professor Vaidya was known among his colleagues and friends as staunch follower of Gandhian principles - simplicity and honesty. Even in his old age, he used to ride a bicycle. He strongly believed that for a mathematician, his brain was the best tool in itself, and research had very less dependency over resources or money. His lectures, always delivered using a chalk and black board, never failed to captivate the student. His memoirs of his teaching and research are titled 'Chalk and Duster’ - his tools of learning and teaching mathematics. Rather than being limited to opinions, he was quite pragmatic in living out his principles.
Honesty in public and personal life was his another remarkable trait. According to his close aides, even during peak years of his scientific career, he exercised extreme prudence and wisdom in using his influence for personal gains of his family, or people related to him.
Spending his senior years in Gujarat University, he initiated state wide efforts to revolutionize mathematics and science education - his motivation being "I am the highest paid mathematics teacher in Gujarat. It cannot be (limited) for teaching M.Sc. classes."
As a visionary educationist, he felt a top-down need to change the way mathematics training was imparted to students, and began programs to educate mathematics teachers on "How to teach mathematics." He frequently interacted with primary students, and tried to awaken their curiosity in mathematics. His foundation of Gujarat Mathematical Society in Bhavnagar, 1964 was aimed at this objective. He tried to reach to farthest rural areas, and aimed the society's efforts to empower teachers and eradicate fear of the subject from students' minds.
External links
Categories:- 1918 births
- 2010 deaths
- Indian scientists
- Indian physicists
- Relativists
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