Stephen Hawking's India connect: College friend Jayant Narlikar remembers the strong-willed scientist

As the world mourns the death of iconic physicist Stephen Hawking, his contemporary and renowned scientist from India Dr Jayant Narlikar remembered  Hawking from his college days when both were studying at Cambridge. "During our university days, I was told that Hawking had only two years to live and soon his physical deterioration started but he showed tremendous determination and willpower and did marvelous work in astrophysics," Narlikar said. 

When Stephen Hawking was a student in Cambridge, Narlikar was his senior. "I was two to three years senior to Hawking in Cambridge but we were in the same department. Once, a doctor known to him told me that he had only two years to live. I was shocked to hear that as until that time, he was physical appearance was fine. However, the deterioration process started soon after that."

"Even in such situation, Stephen remained determinant to work. With positive spirit, he conveyed his theories to the world," Narlikar said. 

Remembering the college days, Narlikar said that Hawking wanted to work with renowned astronomer Fred Hoyle with whom Narlikar did extensive work. "During those days, Hawking was keen to work with Hoyle. However, Hoyle had to say no to him as he was already working with some students and I was one of them.," he added. 

Narlikar gave Hawking lot of credit for making science popular among common people. He said, "Hawking's 'brief history of time' book became quite popular among people. Though I feel that the book is difficult for common people to understand but since people had the curiosity about him, they took that book which was amazing."

 "By writing that book on a difficult subject like science, Hawking showed the world that good writing can attract people to subjects like science," he added. 

Speaking about his work, Narlikar stated that Hawking was expert in Hawking. "He did wonderful work on the black hole. He showed to the world that radiation actually can escape from the Blackhole which was a big discovery," the scientist said. 

Narlikar stated that of late, he could not meet Hawking but through he would get a message from common friends about him.

"When the body was not functioning properly, he did wonderful work for science with his determination," Narlikar added.