P. C. Vaidya
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Prahalad Chunnilal Vaidya (P.C.Vaidya; 23 May 1918 – 12 March 2010), was an Indian physicist and mathematician, renowned for his instrumental work in the general theory of relativity. Apart from his scientific career, he was also an educationist and a follower of
Gandhian The followers of Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest figure of the Indian independence movement, are called Gandhians. Gandhi's legacy includes a wide range of ideas ranging from his dream of ideal India (or ''Rama Rajya)'', economics, environmentalism, ...
philosophy in post-independence India, specifically in his domicile state Gujarat.


Biography


Early life

P. C. Vaidya was born in Shahpur of Junagadh district, Gujarat, India on 23 May 1918. He completed most of his schooling in
Bhavnagar Bhavnagar is a city in the Bhavnagar district of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, a States of India, state of India. It was founded in 1723 by Gohil Koli, Bhavsinhji Takhtasinhji Gohil (1703–1764). It was the capital of Bhavnagar State, whi ...
, and went to Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay) for higher studies. There, after finishing high school at Ismail Yusuf College, he joined the Institute of Science (then known as ''Royal Institute of Science'') in Mumbai. He received a BSc degree, majoring in Mathematics and Physics. He completed a MSc degree with Applied Mathematics major. Vaidya's first stint at teaching was at the
Dharmendra Singhji College Dharam Singh Deol (born 8 December 1935), also known mononymously as Dharmendra, is an Indian actor, producer and politician who is known for his work in Hindi films. Known as the first "He-Man" of Bollywood, Dharmendra has worked in over 301 f ...
in
Rajkot Rajkot () is the fourth-largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat after Ahmedabad, Vadodara, and Surat, and is in the centre of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat. Rajkot is the 35th-largest metropolitan area in India, with a population of ...
, where he joined as a lecturer in 1940, soon after completing his MSc examinations. Vaidya taught trigonometry and arithmetic to undergraduate students. The college was then managed by the
St Xavier's College A multitude of schools and universities have been named after St. Francis Xavier, a Spanish Roman Catholic saint and co-founder of the Society of Jesus. This page lists notable educational institutions named after St. Xavier, arranged by country a ...
, Bombay for half the term, after which the royal family of Rajkot under His Highness
Pradyumansinhji Lakhajirajsinhji Pradyumansinhji Lakhajirajsinhji (24 February 1913 – 9 November 1973), the 14th Thakore Saheb of Rajkot, was an Indian nobleman and ruler of the princely state of Rajkot from June 1940 until the abolition of princely titles in 1971. The thir ...
, the 14th Thakore Saheb of
Rajkot Rajkot () is the fourth-largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat after Ahmedabad, Vadodara, and Surat, and is in the centre of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat. Rajkot is the 35th-largest metropolitan area in India, with a population of ...
, took control of the college. Due to differences with the new management, Vaidya resigned in 1941 and subsequently started with freedom fighter
Prithvi Singh Azad Prithvi Singh Azad (1892–1989) was an Indian independence activist, socialist revolutionary and one of the founder members of Ghadar Party. He suffered incarceration several times during the pre-independence period, including a term in the Ce ...
at the Ahimsak Vyayam Sangh institute of physical education, where he was the principal for non-violent struggle training programme for youths. Meanwhile, he continued teaching mathematics by conducting private tuition for school students. In 1942, P. C. Vaidya wrote to Professor
Vishnu Vasudev Narlikar Vishnu Vasudev Narlikar FRAS (26 September 1908 – 1 April 1991) was an Indian physicist specializing in general relativity. The Centre for Theoretical Physics, Jamia Millia Islamia has instituted the annual "''V. V. Narikar Memorial Lecture'' ...
, father of Indian physicist Jayant Narlikar, expressing his desire to study relativity. Narlikar approved this, and Vaidya immediately moved to Banaras Hindu University(BHU), Varanasi, where Narlikar was a faculty member at the school of relativity. Vaidya was at Banaras for about ten months. At that time,
India's freedom struggle The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged from Bengal. ...
was at full steam with Mahatma Gandhi leading the
Quit India The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule i ...
movement. The political situation was also chaotic due to World War II. Vaidya was living with his wife Vidya and six-month-old daughter Kumud and surviving solely on his earlier savings. Gandhi went on a prolonged fast then, which led to a period of great uncertainty as the fast had affected his health adversely. Desperate to know the developments, Vaidya would eagerly await the Hindi evening daily ''Aaj''. Amid the tension, the idea of spacetime geometry sprouted in his mind. Within a week, Vaidya came up with the
Vaidya Metric In general relativity, the Vaidya metric describes the non-empty external spacetime of a spherically symmetric and nonrotating star which is either emitting or absorbing null dusts. It is named after the Indian physicist Prahalad Chunnilal Vaidya ...
. Professor Vaidya obtained his
Doctoral A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...
degree (PhD) in mathematics in 1949.


Professional career

After his research stint at
BHU Banaras Hindu University (BHU) IAST: kāśī hindū viśvavidyālaya IPA: /kaːʃiː hɪnd̪uː ʋɪʃwəʋid̪jaːləj/), is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916. ...
, he went to a number of places to teach mathematics, including science institutions in
Surat Surat is a city in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The word Surat literally means ''face'' in Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of the river Tapti near its confluence with the Arabian Sea, it used to be a large seaport. It is now ...
,
Rajkot Rajkot () is the fourth-largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat after Ahmedabad, Vadodara, and Surat, and is in the centre of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat. Rajkot is the 35th-largest metropolitan area in India, with a population of ...
and Mumbai. During a small period of 1947 – 48, he went to Tata Institute of Fundamental Research as a research associate. There he became 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 Gujarat Arts & Science College, popularly and previously known as Gujarat College, is one of the oldest educational institution of India and second arts and science college of Gujarat, near Ellis Bridge, Ahmedabad. The institution was founded ...
, Ahmedabad; M.N. College, Visnagar; and University School of Sciences, Gujarat University. Vaidya was a recipient of the Bombay University's Springer Research Scholarship. Vaidya's initial research under this scholarship resulted in a paper that he sent to Robert Oppenheimer, who appreciated the paper and sent it to the
American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...
journal
Physical Review ''Physical Review'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal established in 1893 by Edward Nichols. It publishes original research as well as scientific and literature reviews on all aspects of physics. It is published by the American Physical S ...
. The journal published the paper in 1951. 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.


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, US. * Visiting Professor of Mathematics at London University (Queen Elizabeth College), York University and
Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...
in UK. * Visiting Scientist at Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Dublin, Ireland. * Visiting Scientist at International Centre for Theoretical Physics at Trieste, Italy. In June 1971, he delivered a very informative course of lectures at the Institut Henri Poincare, Paris in June 1971. In July 1971, he attended the 6th International Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation at Copenhagen.


Death

For the last several years, Vaidya had confined himself to his Shardanagar house in
Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...
due to deteriorating health. He was diagnosed with a kidney ailment in January 2010. He died on 12 March 2010 at Ahmedabad. He had four daughters, Kumud, Smita, Darshana and Hina.


Work

Albert Einstein's theory of gravity is described by a set of equations which use the mathematics of Riemannian geometry. 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 Banaras Hindu University (BHU) IAST: kāśī hindū viśvavidyālaya IPA: /kaːʃiː hɪnd̪uː ʋɪʃwəʋid̪jaːləj/), is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916. ...
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 generalised this case to incorporate the
radiation In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or through a material medium. This includes: * ''electromagnetic radiation'', such as radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visi ...
from the
star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...
, and the resulting solution was the famous
Vaidya metric In general relativity, the Vaidya metric describes the non-empty external spacetime of a spherically symmetric and nonrotating star which is either emitting or absorbing null dusts. It is named after the Indian physicist Prahalad Chunnilal Vaidya ...
. Vaidya is known to be one of the pioneers of the
Golden age of general relativity General relativity is a theory of gravitation that was developed by Albert Einstein between 1907 and 1915, with contributions by many others after 1915. According to general relativity, the observed gravitational attraction between masses results ...
. His discovery of the
Vaidya Metric In general relativity, the Vaidya metric describes the non-empty external spacetime of a spherically symmetric and nonrotating star which is either emitting or absorbing null dusts. It is named after the Indian physicist Prahalad Chunnilal Vaidya ...
gave him a worldwide reputation at the 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 sizeable radiation. It pioneered the key idea of using the light rays as a co-ordinate frame. In other words, it was an idea of a null co-ordinate, 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 In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stron ...
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 the 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 Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...
, 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 the 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 The Calcutta Mathematical Society (CalMathSoc) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and education in India. The Society has its head office located at Kolkata, India. History C ...
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 UGC 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 Bhavnagar is a city in the Bhavnagar district of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, a States of India, state of India. It was founded in 1723 by Gohil Koli, Bhavsinhji Takhtasinhji Gohil (1703–1764). It was the capital of Bhavnagar State, whi ...
. He presided over it in 1964 and 1988. Since inception, it organises 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 popularise 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 the Gujarat State Government. Besides, Vaidya published several memoirs from his days as a teacher, such as 'Chalk ane Duster' (Chalk and Duster), and 'America ane apne' (America and Us), which are from his days as a visiting professor at the Washington State University. He also wrote mathematical and scientific articles in the leading Gujarati cultural magazine, Kumar, founded by Kalaguru
Ravishankar Raval Ravishankar Raval (1892–1977) was a painter, art teacher, art critic, journalist and essayist from Gujarat, India. He worked for the magazine ''Vismi Sadi'' until it closed in 1921, and then founded the cultural magazine ''Kumar''. Life Ravis ...
, the leading painter, art teacher, art critic, journalist and essayist from Gujarat.


Thought

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 statewide efforts to revolutionise mathematics and science education – his motivation being "I am the highest paid mathematics teacher in Gujarat. It cannot be (limited) for teaching MSc 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 Bhavnagar is a city in the Bhavnagar district of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, a States of India, state of India. It was founded in 1723 by Gohil Koli, Bhavsinhji Takhtasinhji Gohil (1703–1764). It was the capital of Bhavnagar State, whi ...
, 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.


References


External links


IAGRG (Indian Association for General Relativity and Gravitation) Website

A biographical film on Professor Vaidya

Obituary of Professor Vaidya

Exact Relativistic Model for a Superdense Star by P. C. Vaidya and R. Tikekar

Rotating type II null fluids by P. C. Vaidya

Suganitam Trust
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaidya, P. C. 1918 births 2010 deaths Scientists from Gujarat 20th-century Indian physicists Relativity theorists University of Mumbai alumni Banaras Hindu University alumni Presidents of the Indian Mathematical Society Gujarat University faculty People from Junagadh district