Professor Ajit K. Kembhavi

Professor Ajit Kembhavi is the Director and Distinguished Professor at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) in Pune. He is one of the founding members of IUCAA. Before IUCAA he was at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai where he obtained his Ph.D. with Professor J.V. Narlikar and was then appointed as a scientist. Kembhavi has also been a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, England. Professor Kembhavi’s interests are in galaxies, high energy astrophysics, quasars, etc. and he leads the Virtual Observatory-India Project. He is deeply involved in developing astronomical research in universities and colleges in India. He is Chairman of various UGC committees which look after the UGC-Infonet which brings the benefits of information and communication technology to all the universities in India. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences and Indian Academy of Sciences and has received the UGC Hari Om award. Professor Kembhavi has published around 100 research papers in highly reputed international journals. He has guided a number of research students and works closely in collaboration with scientists from India and abroad. He travels widely all over the world for his research and for giving lectures. Professor Kembhavi is well known for his contribution to science popularization programmes and lectures extensively to the public in English, Marathi and Hindi. He has written and edited several books, most of which have been published internationally.