Mathematical and Physical Sciences

An eminent research scientist and a scholar, physicist, and expert on cosmology, Professor Pankaj Joshi presently anchors the International Centre for Space and Cosmology at Ahmedabad University as its Director. He was Senior Professor, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, before joining the Charotar University of Science and Technology (CHARUSAT) as Provost and as Director for the International Centre for Cosmology (ICC). His research interests are general relativity and cosmology. He has made fundamental contributions to black hole physics and gravitation theory. His extensive analysis of general relativistic gravitational collapse has been widely recognised for providing significant insights into the final fate of massive collapsing stars in the universe, the formation of space-time singularities, and cosmic censorship. Stephen Hawking invited Professor Joshi to Cambridge University, UK, in 1981 and 1986 to work with him under the Nuffield Foundation Fellowship. He has also been acclaimed by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, Dr R Chidambaram, Dr Jayant Narlikar, and several such leaders in science, as an eminent scientist. 

Professor Joshi’s research, mainly revolving around cosmology and gravitation physics, has been reported in over 200 research papers in reputed international journals, monographs from OUP (Oxford), CUP (Cambridge), and other books on the subject. His popular review article on Black Holes and Collapse of Massive Stars was published (2009) in the 150-year-old US magazine Scientific American as its international cover story. This article has been translated into more than 20 international languages, including French, German, Chinese, and Japanese. Professor Joshi has written extensively on these findings through his research papers and monographs from OUP, CUP, and other books.

Some of his acclaimed books are:

• Joshi P. S. (2015), The Story of Collapsing Stars | Black Holes, Naked Singularities and the Cosmic Play of Quantum Gravity; Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2015; Paperback Edition; released in Feb 2018.
• Joshi P. S. (2007), Gravitational Collapse and Spacetime Singularities, Paperback Edition (2012); Cambridge Monographs on Mathematical Physics; Cambridge University Press (CUP), Cambridge, UK.
• Joshi P. S. (1993), Global Aspects in Gravitation and Cosmology, International Series of Monographs on Physics, Oxford University Press (OUP), Oxford, UK; Paperback Edition (1996).

Professor Joshi has held visiting faculty positions in several countries, conducting research and lecturing. He has won several awards and fellowships to scientific academies. He has held the positions of Adjunct Faculty, Fellow, and Visiting Scientist at Cambridge University, UK, Harvard University, US, New York University, US, the University of Pittsburgh, US, the University of Southampton, UK, Osaka City University, Japan, the University of Basque Country, Spain, the University of Natal, South Africa, Queen Mary and Westfield College, London, Milano Polytechnic, Italy, and the University of Cincinnati, US, among others. He has also done considerable work on science outreach, delivering lectures, writing articles and books, and through television and print media interviews.

Professor Joshi has been honoured with several coveted awards and prizes. Chief among these include:

• The US-based Gravity Research Foundation Award for research work on the Final Fate of Gravitational Collapse (1991);
• The Prof AC Banerji Gold Medal and Memorial Lecture Award by the National Academy of Sciences (NASI);
• The CV Raman Lecture Award by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE);
• The Vainu Bappu International Award and Memorial Lecture (INSA);
• The Shankar Fellowship Award by the Government of Madhya Pradesh.

He is an elected Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) Italy, the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) New Delhi, and the National Academy of Sciences (NASI), India. He has been President, Gujarat Science Academy (GSA) and the Indian Association of General Relativity and Gravitation (IAGRG).