Number of words: 728 That a time scale characteristic of the universe at large exists was first suggested by the discoveries of Hubble in the early twenties. There are two parts to Hubble’s discoveries. The first part relates to what may be considered as the fundamental units or constituents of the universe. It emerged unequivocally … Read more

Number of words: 479 You are familiar with Newton’s demonstration of the character of white light by allowing sunlight to pass through a small round hole and letting the pencil of light so isolated fall on the face of a prism. The pencil of light was dispersed by the prism into its constituent rainbow colours. … Read more

Number of words: 688 What the calculation shows is that if you take a star of mass greater than one and a half times the solar mass and if the process of collapse occurs, the process of collapse could not be arrested at a stage with mean densities of the order of million gm/cc. Or, … Read more

Number of words: 790 A black hole is then an object on whose surface the force of gravity is such that even light will not escape from it. But this statement assumes that light is affected by gravity. That light is affected by gravity is a prediction of the general theory of relativity. Indeed, one … Read more

Number of words: 297 Certainly to this audience I need not say that if you take a rocket and if you want to project it and have it escape the gravitational field of the earth, you must project it with a velocity in excess of a certain limit, and this limit is called the velocity … Read more

Number of words: 256 Geometrical curves, their beauty and their forms, held fascination for the Greeks; they are enshrined in their sculptures and their architecture. The straight line and the circle dominate Euclid; and the perfection of the circle was sacrosanct: it underlies Aristotle’s conception of celestial bodies and it provides the basis for Greek … Read more

Number of words: 173 Before the imperious insistence of the Pope, Michelangelo was forced to give in. And not only did he accept, but after a time unsatisfied with the theme (of the twelve Apostles), he proposed to the Pope that it should be modified. Indeed, we have documentary evidence on the origin of the … Read more