Jayant Narlikar’s Hoyle

Current Context : Renowned Indian astrophysicist Jayant Narlikar passed away at the age of 86. He was renowned for his contributions to theoretical physics, particularly the Hoyle-Narlikar theory of gravity

About Hoyle-Narlikar theory of gravity

• What is it?
• The Hoyle–Narlikar theory of gravity is a conformal theory of gravity that incorporates Mach’s principle, proposing that the gravitational constant is determined by the mean density of matter in the universe.
• Background / History
• Developed in the 1960s by Fred Hoyle and Jayant Narlikar, the theory was inspired by the Wheeler–Feynman absorber theory for electrodynamics and aimed to provide an alternative to the Big Bang theory.
• Scientific Impact
• The theory contributed to the development of the quasi-steady state model of the universe and sparked discussions on the nature of gravity and cosmology.