Image Courtesy: PIB

YOUNG SCIENTIST / PROF SURHUD SHRIKANT MORE

When the Government of India announced recipients of the Rash­triya Vigyan Puraskar 2025, one name stood out in the field of physics—that of Prof Surhud Shri­kant More of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astro­physics (IUCAA), Pune. He was chosen for the prestigious Vigyan Yuva-Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award for his exceptional con­tributions to astrophysics and cosmology, particularly his work on galaxy formation, dark matter and the large-scale structure of the universe.

For Prof More, the award is the culmination of a journey that began in rural Maharashtra. Growing up in Alibaug, he was fascinated by science and astronomy from a young age. He has often spoken about how the legendary astrophysicist Prof Jayant Vishnu Narlikar shaped his scientific imagination.

As a child, Prof More attended Nar­likar’s public lectures and watched his science programmes on Doordarshan. So inspired was he that he once wrote a letter to Prof Narlikar asking a scientific question and received a personal reply as well—an experience that left a lasting impression on him.

Prof More’s academic path eventu­ally led him to the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany, one of the world’s premier centres for astrophysi­cal research, where he earned his doc­torate. Later, he joined the Kavli Insti­tute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU) in Japan, a globally renowned centre for cosmo­logical studies. There, he developed an international reputation for his work, on understanding the invisible compo­nents of the universe.

Prof More’s research focuses on one of modern science’s greatest puzzles: the fact that ordinary matter, everything that makes up stars, planets and human beings, constitutes only a tiny fraction of the universe. The rest is believed to be dark matter and dark energy, mys­terious entities that cannot be directly observed but exert profound influence on cosmic evolution.

Using sophisticated observational data and theoretical models, Prof More has helped explain how gal­axies form and evolve inside enor­mous clumps of dark matter known as dark matter halos. His studies have significantly advanced scien­tists’ understanding of the relation­ship between visible galaxies and the invisible structures that sur­round them.

He is also a leading expert in gravitational lensing, a phenom­enon predicted by Albert Einstein in which the gravity of massive ob­jects bends light travelling through space. By analysing these distor­tions, astronomers can map the distribution of dark matter across the universe. Prof More’s contribu­tions in this area have placed him among the leading cosmologists of his generation.

Beyond his individual research, he has been deeply involved in some of the world’s most ambitious astronomical collaborations. He is a member of the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam Survey, an international project that maps the cosmos with unprecedented precision. He is also associated with the upcoming Legacy Survey of Space and Time at the Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile, one of the most significant astronomical mis­sions of the coming decade, expected to revolutionise humanity’s understanding of dark matter and dark energy.

Recognition has followed his scien­tific achievements. In 2010, he received the prestigious Otto Hahn Medal from the Max Planck Society, awarded to outstanding young researchers for ex­ceptional scientific accomplishments. The Vigyan Yuva-Shanti Swarup Bhat­nagar Award now adds India’s highest recognition for young scientists to his growing list of honours.