Varun Bhisham Sahni (born March 29, 1956) is an Indian theoretical physicist, astrophysicist and a Distinguished Professor at the

Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics The Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) is an autonomous institution set up by the University Grants Commission of India to promote nucleation and growth of active groups in astronomy and astrophysics in Indian univer ...

. Known for his research on cosmology, Sahni is an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies viz.

Indian Academy of Sciences The Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore was founded by Indian Physicist and Nobel Laureate C. V. Raman, and was registered as a society on 24 April 1934. Inaugurated on 31 July 1934, it began with 65 founding fellows. The first general meet ...

Indian National Science Academy The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a national academy in New Delhi for Indian scientists in all branches of science and technology. In August 2019, Dr. Chandrima Shaha was appointed as the president of Indian National Science Acade ...

and National Academy of Sciences, India. The

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (IAST: ''vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna pariṣada''), abbreviated as CSIR, was established by the Government of India in September 1942 as an autonomous body that has emerged as the l ...

, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (SSB) is a science award in India given annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for notable and outstanding research, applied or fundamental, in biology, ...

, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to physical sciences in 2000. Sahni is reported to have studied the universe, more specifically its large-scale structure, the early inflationary phase and cosmological constant. His achievements include the establishment of a cosmic no-hair theorem related to inflation, analysis of the universe structure using self-developed statistical methods, discovery of novel models of

dark energy In physical cosmology and astronomy, dark energy is an unknown form of energy that affects the universe on the largest scales. The first observational evidence for its existence came from measurements of supernovas, which showed that the univ ...

and

dark matter Dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter thought to account for approximately 85% of the matter in the universe. Dark matter is called "dark" because it does not appear to interact with the electromagnetic field, which means it does not ...

, design of unified models of Inflation and dark energy and the elucidation of

Big Bang theory The Big Bang event is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models of the Big Bang explain the evolution of the observable universe from the ...

using Braneworld physics. His studies have been documented by way of a number of articles and the online article repository of the Indian Academy of Sciences has listed 68 of them. Sahni is a member of the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreac ...

. He has delivered plenary addresses at many conferences and seminars; "Cosmology after the BOOMERANG experiment" delivered at the Astronomy Seminars 2000 of the

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) is a public deemed research university located in Mumbai, India that is dedicated to basic research in mathematics and the sciences. It is a Deemed University and works under the umbrella of the ...

and Frontiers of Cosmology and Gravitation (ICGC 2011) of the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences were two of them. The School of Applied Mathematical and Physical Sciences of the National Technical University of Athens has listed one of his talks on Dark matter and dark energy, delivered in March 2004, as the best cited among Aegean School talks. He is also a recipient of the Homi Bhabha Medal (2014) of the Indian National Science Academy.

Selected bibliography

Chapters

Articles

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Notes

References

External links