Prahalad Chunnilal Vaidya

Born:23 May 1918

Died:12 March 2010

• He was an Indian physicist and mathematician, renowned for his instrumental work in the general theory of relativity.
• Apart from his scientific career, he was also an educationist and a follower of Gandhian philosophy in post-independence India, specifically in his domicile state Gujarat.
• After his research stint at BHU, he went to a number of places to teach mathematics, including science institutions in Surat, Rajkot and Mumbai.
• During a small period of 1947 – 48, he went to Tata Institute of Fundamental Research as a research associate.
• There he became associated with Homi Bhabha, father of India’s nuclear program.
• Due to accommodation constraints, he left Mumbai, and continued the rest of his academic career in Gujarat.
• From 1948 to 1971, he taught at various colleges including: V. P. College, Vallabh Vidyanagar; Gujarat College, Ahmedabad; M.N. College, Visnagar; and University School of Sciences, Gujarat University.
• He was a recipient of the Bombay University’s Springer Research Scholarship.
• His initial research under this scholarship resulted in a paper that he sent to Robert Oppenheimer, who appreciated the paper and sent it to the American Physical Society journal Physical Review.
• The journal published the paper in 1951.

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