Ahmedabad University’s Professor Pankaj Joshi, Director of the International Centre for Space and Cosmology receives the Gujarat Gaurav Ratna Award

The International Labour Day, May 1 holds a date of significance as the day on which the State of Gujarat was formed 63 years ago. To celebrate the occasion, 20 citizens have been honoured from the state with the Gujarat Gaurav Ratna Award this year in recognition of contributions to their specific professions and lifetime achievements.

Ahmedabad University’s Professor Pankaj Joshi, Director of the International Centre for Space and Cosmology was presented with the Award this year in recognition of his eminent research as a scientist, scholar and physicist. 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.

Professor Pankaj Joshi, Director of Ahmedabad University’s International Centre for Space and Cosmology said “It is a great pleasure to receive the Gujarat Gaurav Ratna Award. It is a matter of excitement that our work is obviously at international frontiers and in Gujarat we want to use this for the benefit of our youth and our citizens.”

The International Centre for Space and Cosmology is a new initiative that will drive cutting edge research in the areas of Space, Astrophysics and Cosmology, train the next generation of researchers, and advance public understanding of this very exciting domain of Physics. and for the dissemination of important developments in these areas amongst the general public.

Link to Professor Pankaj Joshi's Speech