President Kovind, Prime Minister Modi express anguish over passing away of Prof Govind Swarup

President Ramnath Kovind has said the world has lost an astronomy legend with the demise of Professor Govind Swarup.

In a tweet, Shri Kovind said he contributed to fundamental developments in radio astronomy and created two of the world’s largest radio telescopes in India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed anguish at the passing away of scientist Professor Govind Swarup. In a tweet, Shri Modi said his pioneering works in radio astronomy have attained global commendation.

Professor Swarup passed away in Pune yesterday. Govind Swarup was a radio astronomer and one of the pioneers of radio astronomy, known not only for his many important research contributions in several areas of astronomy and astrophysics, but also for his outstanding achievements in building ingenious, innovative and powerful observational facilities for front-line research in radio astronomy. He was the key scientist behind concept, design and installation of the Ooty Radio Telescope (India) and the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) near Pune. Under his leadership, a strong group in radio astrophysics has been built at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research that is comparable to the best in the world.