Life And Times Of India's Late Mathematics Prodigy, Mangala Narlikar

Dr Mangala Jayant Narlikar, an eminent mathematician and educationalist, aged 80 passed away during the early hours on July 17, 2023. She had been battling with cancer for more than a year.

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She is one of the few women mathematics researchers in the country, she completed her PhD, 16 years after marriage.

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After becoming the chairperson of Balbharti, she made several significant changes in the state vernacular curriculum, particularly the simplification of the names of numbers.

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She has worked in the field of both Simple Arithmetic and Advanced Mathematics at the University of Pune and the University of Mumbai.

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Having worked at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mangala published several books on mathematical topics in both English and Marathi.

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Not only did she go on to write books but also made concrete changes to the way textbooks are published. The books that she wrote were sold for just ₹10 so that every child could afford them.

As a teacher, she is popularly known for the way she makes mathematics an interesting subject for her students. She has contributed immensely to generating interest among laypeople in the subject through various articles in publications like the Scientific Age, where she would break down concepts in a language everyone could understand.

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She has been honoured with the Vishwanath Parvati Gokhale Award 2002 for one of her books in Marathi.

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She is survived by her husband, three daughters and five grandchildren. Last rites will be performed at Vaikunth crematorium at 11AM.

Atul Kamble