Date: 9th July 2016
The speaker, Prof. Jayant.Narlikar, was introduced to all present. He is the Founder Director of IUCAA. His book “ My tale of far cities” is released this year. This year he was presented with the Kalinga award for Science.
Prof. Jayant. Narlikar started his lecture by asking a simple question, “Is seeing, believing?” And with his explanation he came to the conclusion that “It is not always true” He then explained, as Mirages are there on Earth, they are there in space too. He explained that optical illusions are reminders that even the light, moving in a straight line can mislead us. The next question which he asked was , Can light rays be turned by gravity? He explained that, Einstein, with his experiments has already proved that light from a distant object bends. Then he explained the pair of quasars( very bright and powerful star like objects), Gravitational lens simulators and also Gravitational lensing produced on a smaller scale by a small star, which is known as Gravitational microlensing. It is useful to detect objects in the galaxy. The lecture concluded with a question-answer session. The lecture was very informative and interesting . Students liked the lecture as it enriched their knowledge. Overall a well planned and effective lecture.
