Mumbai, Oct. 27 -- The country's top science award, Vigyan Ratna puraskar, will be posthumously conferred to eminent astrophysicist, science communicator, and Padma Vibhushan recipient Jayant Vishnu Narlikar, the Union government announced on Sunday. The award recognises lifetime achievements and contributions made in any field of science and technology. A media statement on Sunday from the ministry of science and technology said, "By honouring the nation's visionaries in science and technology, the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar aims to motivate the next generation, strengthen the research ecosystem, and accelerate India's journey as a global leader in S&T innovation." Narlikar, who died in May in Pune at the age of 86, laid the foundation for cosmology in India. Challenging the Big Bang theory, which states that the universe was created in a single moment, Narlikar and British astronomer Fred Hoyle, co-developed the Hoyle-Narlikar theory of gravity-an alternative to Einstein's general relativity. His daughter Leelavati told HT, "My sisters and I are really happy and glad that my father's contribution to science has been recognised. I wish he had been around to receive it."...