Dr. Jayant Narlikar was an Indian astrophysicist known for his work on an alternative model of the universe, separate from the Big Bang. Born in 1938 in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, Narlikar was a young PhD student at Cambridge University in the early 1960s, when he produced a series of influential works in cosmology. His contribution to science vastly changed astrophysics in India, particularly through propounding the Steady State Theory and in establishing the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune. Dr. Narlikar was also admired for his science-fiction works..Among his many accolades, are the UNESCO Kalinga Prize for the popularisation of science in 1996 and the prestigious Prix Jules Janssen from the French Astronomical Society in 2004.