‘Our world is built on basic science, and part of basic science is rationality’ Premium
The Hindu
Not many people have the distinction of having a cosmic body named after them. Jayant Murthy, a senior professor at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru, is one of them. Murthy just had an asteroid named after him by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to mark his contributions to astronomy. The asteroid 2005 EX296, which was discovered at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona by M.W. Buie in 2005, will now be called (215884) Jayantmurthy, “in recognition of his work in the NASA New Horizons Science Team to observe the ultraviolet background radiation in the universe,” said the IIA.
Not many people have the distinction of having a cosmic body named after them. Jayant Murthy, a senior professor at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru, is one of them. Murthy just had an asteroid named after him by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to mark his contributions to astronomy. The asteroid 2005 EX296, which was discovered at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona by M.W. Buie in 2005, will now be called (215884) Jayantmurthy, “in recognition of his work in the NASA New Horizons Science Team to observe the ultraviolet background radiation in the universe,” said the IIA.
Murthy spoke to The Hindu after a talk he recently gave at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru. The talk, titled Nightfall: An Asimov Tribute or How I made it into Wikipedia focused on a research project he did with a student that examined the viability of the world that Isaac Asimov’s Nightfall is set in.
In the interview, Murthy talks about his own journey in astronomy, the importance of science outreach, and India’s space programme.