General Relativity in Post Independence India

TL;DR

This paper reviews the development and contributions of Indian physicists to general relativity and relativistic astrophysics from the 1950s onwards, highlighting key discoveries and theoretical advancements.

Contribution

It provides a historical overview of Indian research in general relativity, emphasizing significant contributions like the Raychaudhuri equation and involvement in modern astrophysical discoveries.

Findings

Indian physicists contributed to the formulation of the Raychaudhuri equation.

Indian scientists participated in the exploration of black holes and cosmological phenomena.

The paper highlights India's role in the development of relativistic astrophysics and cosmology.

Abstract

The most outstanding contribution to general relativity in this era came in 1953 (published in 1955 \cite{akr}) in the form of the Raychaudhri equation. It is in 1960s that the observations began to confront the eupherial theory and thus began exploration of GR as a legitimate physical theory in right earnest. The remarkable discoveries of cosmic microwave background radiation, quasars, rotating Kerr black hole and the powerful singularity theorems heralded a new canvas of relativistic astrophysics and cosmology. I would attempt to give a brief account of Indian participation in these exciting times.