Vinod Johri

Vinod Johri (10 June 1935 10 May 2014) was an Indian astrophysicist. He was an eminent cosmologist, a retired professor of astrophysics at Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and an emeritus professor at Lucknow
University since 1995. Johri had over 75 research publications and articles published in pioneering journals. His
major contributions in cosmological research included
'power law ination, genesis of quintessence elds of dark
energy and phantom cosmologies. He was the co-author
of the rst model of power law ination in BransDicke
theory along with C. Mathiazhagan. He was honored
by Uttar Pradesh Government by Research Award of the
Council of Science & Technology (CSIR).[1]

PhD degree in 1966 on his thesis Gravitational Waves in

Bondi Space-Time.

In 1967 Johri was awarded Commonwealth Fellowship

for Post-Doctorate work at Department of Mathematics and Theoretical Physics,[13] Cambridge University
(UK), where he worked in close collaboration on cosmological problems with Dr.Dennis Sciama and research
scholars Friedrich Hehl (Cologne), Fernando de Felice[14]
(Padova, Italy), George Ellis (Cape Town) and Stephen
Hawking (UK) for his Post Doctorate program. In 1968
Johri was appointed Reader in Mathematics at Gorakhpur
University. Between 1970 and 1972, Johri worked as
UNESCO consultant to Government of Iran under United
Johri spent over 45 years researching in cosmology, act- Nations Development Program at Teheran. Johri was
ing as a research guide and principal investigator of vari- elected a Fellow of Royal Astronomical Society of Lonous research projects of Council of Scientic and Indus- don in 1978.
trial Research,[2] Department of Science & Technology[3] Johri accepted the position of Professor of Cosmology
and University Grants Commission of India.[4] Johri was at the Mathematics Department of Indian Institute of
a Commonwealth Fellow, a senior visitor at Cambridge Technology,[15] Madras (Chennai) in 1980. In addition
University (UK) and a Fellow of Royal Astronomical to teaching and advising PhD students, he introduced
Society[5] of London. He worked as consultant for new courses on General Relativity and Cosmology. In
UNESCO at United Nations Development Program[6] in
1984, he discovered the rst model of 'power law inaIran and as a DAAD Fellow[7] at University of Mainz tion' under BransDicke theory (later on called as 'ex(Germany), as a visiting scientist at Hansen Lab[8] (Gravtended ination') along with his student C.Mathizhagan.
ity Probe B Group) Stanford University (USA) and Johri worked on various visiting assignments at National
as an International Scholar at Fine Theoretical Physics
University[16] (Kuwait), International Centre for TheoInstitute[9] at University of Minnesota at Minneapolis retical Physics, Trieste (Italy), Copernicus Astronom(USA). He died in Dallas, USA at the age of 78 due to
ical Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences (Warsaw),
complications arising from Kidney failure.
National University of Singapore, South West Technical University of Sydney; Australian National University, Canberra, Hansen Lab (Gravity Probe B Group)[17] ),
1 Career
Stanford University, Cologne University, International
Institute of Physics and Chemistry Brussels University
Johri was born in Etah (Uttar Pradesh), India on 10 June (hosted by Nobel Laureate Prof. Ilya Prigogine).
1935. His father Dr. Bhairon Prasad Johri graduated Johri organized the International Symposium on Cosmolfrom Veterinary College, Patna and worked as Livestock ogy at Indian Institute of Technology,[18] Madras in 1995.
Ocer, Allahabad, India. Johris mother, Sarojini Johri The proceedings of the symposium were published by
was a home maker.
Hadronic Press,[19] Florida (USA) in 1997.
Johri completed his High School at Narain College,[10]
Shikohabad, India, with 12th rank in the state merit list.
He was awarded First Prize in Chiranjeevi Dhiri Singh
Provincial English Debate. He completed his Bachelors in 1953 and Masters in Applied Mathematics in
1956 from Allahabad University scoring high ranks in
the merit list. In 1957 he was appointed as Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics Allahabad University,[11] Allahabad. In 1960, Johri was appointed Assistant Professor in Mathematics at Gorakhpur
University,[12] Gorakhpur India, where he was conferred

In 1995 Professor Johri retired from Indian Institute of

Technology[20] and joined as CSIR[21] Professor Emeritus in the Department of Mathematics & Astronomy
at Lucknow University,[22] Lucknow (India). In 2001,
Johri got interested in dark energy during his visiting assignment at Fine Theoretical Physics Institute,[23]
University of Minnesota (USA), he gave the theory of
'integrated tracking' of Quintessence Fields. His research work on 'Genesis of Quintessence'[24] and 'Phantom Cosmologies[25] was published in reputed journals

Physical Review D & Classical and Quantum Gravity.

Honors

REFERENCES

[5] The Royal Astronomical Society. Ras.org.uk. Retrieved 21 October 2011.

[6] Pooneh Tehrani (19 April 2010). "::::: United Nations
Information Centre, Tehran :::::". Unic-ir.org. Retrieved
21 October 2011.

Johri was a Commonwealth Fellow and a senior visitor [7] Home. Daad.org. 13 November 2010. Retrieved 21
to Cambridge University (UK). He was also a resident
October 2011.
of Clare College, Cambridge. He was elected a Fellow of Royal Astronomical Society of London in 1978. [8] Ronald K. Hanson. The Hanson Group: Home. Hanson.stanford.edu. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
Johri was awarded the Royal Society Visiting Fellowship
in 1989 for visiting Department of Applied Mathemat- [9] http://www.ftpi.umn.edu/research/
ics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP) Cambridge,[26]
Southampton University (UK), Cardi University and [10] http://naraincollege.com/
Queen Mary College, London under the Distinguished
[11] http://www.alldunivpio.org/
Scientists Exchange Program of British Council.[27] In
1993, Johri was awarded DAAD Fellowship for his visit- [12] Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University,
Gorakhpur..A NAAC Accredited B++ University.
ing assignment at Theoretical Physics Institute, Johannes
Ddugu.edu.in. 16 October 2011. Retrieved 21 October
Gutenberg University, Mainz(Germany).
2011.

Johri was honored with a 'Silver Plaque' by Council of

Science & Technology,[28] India for his distinguished [13] DAMTP. Damtp.cam.ac.uk. 12 April 2011. Retrieved
21 October 2011.
work on Dark Energy in the year 2006. He was Life
Member of Ganita Parishad[29] and a founding mem[14] Gaia: People working on Gaia. Rssd.esa.int. Retrieved
ber of the Indian Association of General Relativity and
21 October 2011.
Gravitation.[30]
[15] IIT Madras Home. Iitm.ac.in. Retrieved 21 October
2011.

Writings and hobbies

[16] Kuwait University. Kuniv.edu.kw. Retrieved 21 October 2011.

Besides scientic research papers and popular science ar- [17] Gravity Probe B Media Galleries.
Einticles, Johri wrote several books on Mathematical Physics
stein.stanford.edu. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
and Astrophysics. His research monograph Early Universe was published by Hadronic Press (USA) in 1996. [18] IIT Madras Home. Iitm.ac.in. Retrieved 21 October
2011.
Vinod Johri loved to compose verses in Hindi, Urdu and
English during his leisure time.
[19] Hadronic Press. Hadronic Press. Retrieved 21 October
2011.

Personal life

[20] IIT Madras Home. Iitm.ac.in. Retrieved 21 October

2011.

Johri was married to Aruna (maiden name Kodesia) for [21] Cst U.P. Cst U.P. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
54 years. The couple had 2 sons Manoj (Software Ar- [22] Lucknow University !!!". Lkouniv.ac.in. 9 February
chitect, HP), Vivek (IT Manager, UnitedHealth Group)
2009. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
and 2 daughters Manisha (Teacher at Shishya,[31] Chennai) and Anvita (Software Development, UnitedHealth [23] Home Page Physics at Minnesota. Physics.umn.edu.
27 May 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
Group).

References

[1] Cst U.P. Cst U.P. Retrieved 21 October 2011.

[2] http://rdpp.csir.res.in/csir_acsir/
[3] Welcome to Science And Engineering Research Council. Serc-dst.org. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
[4] ":::Welcome to UGC :::". Ugc.ac.in. 18 June 2004. Retrieved 21 October 2011.

[24] Phys. Rev. D 63, 103504 (2001): Genesis of cosmological tracker elds. Prd.aps.org. Retrieved 21 October
2011.
[25] Phys. Rev. D 70, 041303 (2004): Phantom cosmologies. Prd.aps.org. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
[26] DAMTP. Damtp.cam.ac.uk. 12 April 2011. Retrieved
21 October 2011.
[27] British Council. British Council. 25 October 2010. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
[28] Cst U.P. Cst U.P. Retrieved 21 October 2011.

[29] Lucknow University !!!". Lkouniv.ac.in. Retrieved 21

October 2011.
[30] "<!- Main page of the site, entry-point -> IAGRG Home
Page. Imsc.res.in. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
[31] http://www.sishya.com/

External links
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/vinod-johri/14/176/
10
http://mat.iitm.ac.in/Ret33.html
http://www.jamia-physics.net/astro/
http://www.imsc.res.in/~{}iagrg/IagrgSite/
Members/current_members.html
http://arxiv.org/find/all/1/au:+johri/0/1/0/all/0/1
http://www.scientificcommons.org/vinod_b_johri
http://www.slac.stanford.edu/spires/find/books?
irn=283720
http://iaps.academia.edu/RAMBILASMISRA/
Papers/229921/MATHEMATICS_AND_
MATHEMATICIANS_AT_PRAYAG_
ALLAHABAD_

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