Did India say no to Ligo lab 3 years ago?

Nagpur: India could have had a major share in the recent discovery of the gravitational waves (GW) by the US had the Indian government three years ago accepted the American offer for setting a

Ligo

(Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory) laboratory in India and being a part of the larger international experiment. Indian scientists have been given credit only for the research and discovery in ‘data analysis’ aspect of the experiment. TOI reliably learns that the US had invited India and Australia to set up Ligo labs and collaborate on the gravitational waves experiment. With both countries being at the other extreme of the Earth, the US felt that it would help consolidate their findings. Work on gravitational waves has been on since 20 years but US scientists had established the presence of GW in September last year and the discovery was announced on February 11. “The Indian governments (UPA and NDA) could not take a decision at the appropriate time while Australia refused to be a part of the research. India lost an opportunity to have an equal share in the discovery,” said

Jayant Narlikar

, renowned astrophysicist and founder director of Inter-University Centre of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune. He was in the city to receive the Mohan Dharia award instituted by Vanrai, an NGO. Narlikar understood the government’s predicament and felt that it was not easy for any (government) to decide on such subjects and get funding too. “Every government has its own priorities. Even decisions in NASA are taken after weighing all the pros and cons,” he said, adding that PM Narendra Modi announcing the setting up of a Ligo lab in the country “is a step in the right direction”. Former IUCCA director Sanjeev Dhurandhar had wanted to set up the world’s biggest 100-metre interferometer to detect gravitational waves way back in 1988-89 but his proposal was not accepted. However, now he is getting due credit at least in the Indian scientific community. About 60 Indian scientists were part of the data analysis aspect of gravitational waves discovery from the Indian Initiative in GW Observatories (INDIGO) which was set up in 2009 from CMI Chennai, ITS-TIFR Bengaluru, IISER Kolkata, IISER Trivandrum, IIT Gandhinagar, IPR Gandhinagar, IUCAA Pune, RRCAT Indore and TIFR Mumbai. They find mention in the paper published on the subject by USA and the other international partners. Narlikar has been a proponent of the ‘quasi-steady state theory’ of origin of universe as against the ‘Big Bang’ theory. He has developed the conformal gravity theory with Sir

Fred Hoyle

commonly known as Hoyle-Narlikar theory. Narlikar believes that though gravitational waves findings will provide “more maturity to understanding of the origin of universe”, it doesn’t “directly confirm on any particular theory of origin of universe as yet”. On the BJP’s government’s focus on reviving Indian culture and science, Narlikar said, “There’s no harm in tracing the roots of any country and its work.” However, he had a rider. “Claiming things based on assumptions or mystics was wrong,” said Narlikar. “If we know anything in science, we should share it with proof. ”

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