India’s most celebrated astrophysicist Jayant Naralikar, who passed away in May, was Saturday selected for the Vigyan Ratna Puraskar, the country’s top science award.

Naralikar challenged the Big Bang theory, which states that the universe was created in a single moment. He, along with British astronomer Fred Hoyle, proposed that the universe had always existed with continuous creation of new matter into infinity.

Naralikar died May 20 at the age of 86.

The government also announced eight Vigyan Shri awards for 2025 — Gyanendra Pratap Singh (Agricultural Science), Yusuf Mohammad Seikh (Atomic Energy), K Thangaraj (Biological Sciences), Pradeep Thalappil (Chemistry), Aniruddha Bhalchandra Pandit (Engineering Sciences), S Venkata Mohan (Environmental Science), Mahan Mj (Mathematics and Co

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