REVIEWS AND REACTIONS

• P. A. M. Dirac (Nobel Prize 1933) [on my ISI Discussion paper No. 7802 later expanded to my Ph.D. thesis.]  "Mr Raju has shown that he has great initiative and has worked extremely hard. He is the sort of student one wants to help....He is working on excessively difficult problems. No one knows the correct lines on which they should be solved."
• P. C. W. Davies (Templeton Award 1995) [on my ISI discussion paper No. 7802] "...shows great imagination and promise..."
• A. N. Mitra (formerly INSA Albert Einstein Professor) [on my ISI discussion paper No. 7802] "...there is ample evidence of original thinking..."
• Second Referee Report, J. Phys. A, on my paper on the Dirac Delta Function. "This is a paper of very high quality, addressed to problems which are certain to be of increasing importance in the future. The presentation is exceptionally clear, not only in the straightforward sense of what it actually proved, but also in placing these results in a significant physical context. Although perhaps a rather long paper, it would suffer under attempts to shorten it."
• Math Review 83j:83025 83C (Mauro Francaviglia) on my paper on Junction Conditions in General Relativity. "an original approach to the problem of junction conditions in general relativity... based on the extensive use of nonstandard analysis on distributional spaces"
• Second Referee's Report, J. Fluid Mechanics, on my paper on Navier Stokes shocks "a worthwhile contribution to a difficult topic... However, much as I like the paper, I do not feel it is appropriate for the Journal of Fluid Mechanics...a good paper but...submitted to the wrong journal."
• A. K. Raychaudhuri (author of the Raychaudhuri equation) "Raju is a very good researcher. He has imagination, creativity and confidence in himself."
• J. F. Colombeau (Professor, Ecole Normale Superieure, Lyons) "Dr C. K. Raju is a very active mathematician...working on products of distributions, a field in which he is a recognized expert."
• N. Dadhich (Director, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics) "Dr C. K. Raju...is a very enthusiastic and energetic researcher who is bold and committed enough to not only take up very difficult problems but could pursue them with a reasonable degree of success. His work on distribution theory and its applications in relativity and fluid mechanics is a good example of this. Further he is very imaginative and has a knack of pursuing unconventional ideas...with vigour and tenacity....even those who do not subscribe to his ideas...would admire his originality and courage."
• Karl Popper (on my criticism of his criterion of falsifiability as summarised in a letter) "I found your critical remarks...very good."
• Jagdish Mehra (UNESCO Sir Julian Huxley Distinguished Professor, and Director, the UNESCO International Programme on the History of Modern Science, in a letter to Prof. Yash Pal, then Chairman University Grants Commission) "The reason for my desire to meet you for a few moments, should you have come here, was just to tell you about a most brilliant young scientist from India, whom I met accidentally when he passed through Trieste. This gentleman, Dr C. K. Raju...is perhaps one of the most brilliant young persons I have met in a long time, either in India, or coming from there to do research for some time abroad. I found that Dr Raju is full of brilliant ideas, a number of them most original.... It is my conviction that Dr Raju has decidedly within him certain elements of genius which, if properly channeled, could help him to develop into a really original thinker of the first rank. I know it from my own experience when...I was advised...to go to work with Wolfgang Pauli who, in turn, sent me to Werner Heisenberg....When I met Dr Raju in Trieste, I invited him to work with me...as part of the UNESCO International Programme on the History of Modern Science, ...which is guided by a most distinguished Scientific Advisory Committee (including fifteen Nobel Prize winners in Physics, Astrophysics, Cosmology...and three Fields Medalists in mathematics)"
• J. N. Mohanty (Professor, University of Pennsylvania) "Indian philosophy certainly needs scholars like you..."
• A. W. Joshi (author of Group Theory for Physicists, and other books) [on "On Time. IV, VA and VB)� �I VB)"] "I am absolutely thrilled...You have indeed a great knack of questioning each physical hypothesis, however fundamental and deep rooted it may look. At the same time, you are doing it with the full rigour and vigour of a physicist...You are doing great work...as an independent observer, I think you have greatly honoured the journal by giving your series of articles to it."
• A. W. Joshi [on "On Time. VIA"] "It is fantastic...You are now rising to the level of Bohr and Pauli and others."
• D. N. Srivastava (Head Phonetic Code Section, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre) ["On Time. I"] "I was very impressed by the detailed coverage of the subject...specially by the references to our ancient literature."
• V. K. Balasubramanyan (Retired astrophysicist NASA) ["On Time. IV"]. "I was very...impressed with the clear exposition...I was so impressed that I have decided to subscribe [to] that journal."
• Second Referee's report on Time: Towards a Consistent Theory "The information from Raju's book looks very intriguing. The topics are definitely those with which a serious student of these questions is likely to be concerned. The...text included was well written and appropriately illustrated. Something about the juxtaposition of topics suggests that the book might be truly brilliant. ...The conclusions may warrant close scrutiny, since the custom since Socrates has been for brilliant philosophical critics to tack weak positive conclusions to their analyses."
• A. N. Mitra [excerpts from review of Time: Towards a Consistent Theory] "I was pleasantly surprised to find... meat meant for the professional researcher in the field. The author himself is a serious worker in the field and has his own paradigm on the nature of time which is succinctly expressed by 'a tilt in the arrow of time' and which he has projected through several publications in the last decade. The core of the book is centred around this theme.... "The book, however, extends far beyond this 'tilt' theme and gives a most systematic analysis of the nature and role of time in its diverse manifestations from the abstract philosophical level to its implications on relativity, quantum theory and cosmology.... Indeed it gives a complete panoramic (yet quantitative) view of the development of the state of the time art from the beginning of physics to the present epoch in a lucid manner, richly interspersed with appropriate quotations from authoritative sources. The powerful literary style on the one hand, and a firm control on the mathematical language of quantum logic for a fresh perspective on the quantum mechanical setting for time on the other, form a rare blend of complementary qualities not often noticeable in a serious treatise on a physical subject. Altogether it is a delightful book with a high degree of intuitive appeal ...which would be of great help to the professional researcher."
• J. F. Woodward, "An Essay Review of C. K. Raju's Time: Towards a Consistent Theory (Kluwer Academic:, Dordrecht)", Foundations of Physics 26 (1996) 1725-1730. "It is a pleasure to find that C. K. Raju understands that many of the topics mixed into most discussions of time are really red herrings...and in his book he takes the trouble to explain why. Resolution of the fundamental problem is the chief focus of his book. It is a book that I hope you will enjoy reading as much as I did. Although much of this book was first published in a series of articles in Physics Education (India), it is not a book for the formally faint-hearted. But anyone with a strong physics background should not encounter serious difficulties. Raju's treatment of the subject is comprehensive. Indeed he includes several interesting digressions that are, at best, tangential to his main theme. As stated in his title, that theme is to find a 'consistent' theory of time. By 'consistent' he means a theory that is compatible with relativity theory, quantum mechanics, and our ordinary sense of everyday, in his idiom, 'mundane' time. The prescription that Raju advocates to achieve this goal is the abandonment of the concept of causality, at least at the level of microphysical phenomena; that is, rejection of the assumption that microphysical events are determined only by antecedent events. Raju writes with ease and deft wit...The book is too rich and robust to admit a simple, comprehensive synopsis. Raju's core argument, however, can be briefly recapitulated. ...The bare concept that I have just summarised is exploited with subtlety and elegance by Raju. His core concept and attendant arguments are about the niftiest explanation of our intuitive sense of time I have yet seen.... Paul Davies recounts in his recent book About Time an encounter he had with David Bohm when he (Davies) was a graduate student. At one point he said to Bohm, "But you can't make much progress in physics without making that assumption," to which Bohm replied, , "In my opinion, progress in science is usually made by dropping assumptions". As Davies remarks, history confirms the correctness of Bohm's observation. It seems to me that Raju, along with a growing number of others, has contemplated the Hydra of determinism in the mirror of time and seen that the assumption that needs to be dropped is common sense causality....this is an important book that you will certainly want to read if you are interested in the problem of time".
• G. J. Klir, Review of Time: Towards a Consistent Theory (International J. General Systems 27 (1999) 427-8) "...the very range of subject domains which pretend to contribute to the study of time is a clear indicator that a systems approach is required...The book by Raju is an important contribution to our understanding of this difficult concept....The author mentions in Preface that the many misconceptions about time, even among physicists, prompted him to write the papers and, eventually, this book....The book is authoritative and written with impeccable clarity. Many insightful quotes from great thinkers of both Western and Eastern cultures add spice to the book. In addition, frequent biographical and historical notes help to comprehend the discussed issues. In summary, this is an excellent book and I highly recommend it to readers of this journal."
• Arun Ghosh (former Member Planning Commission) [on a draft of The Eleven Pictures of Time] "...magnificent, a true magnum opus"
• Referee report (Foundations of Physics) [on "Time Travel and the Reality of Spontaneity"] "It was a pleasure to read this paper. I enjoyed its grace and delightful wit (that is sadly lacking in most recent literature). The author, through both this paper and his more recent book, displays an excellent command of the subject matter. That subject matter is clearly both timely and important. For these reasons, I recommend that the paper be published....the appeal to equations of finite difference (a la Poincare) seems a clever and promising approach. His 'tilting' (which I would call 'fuzzing') of time seems to be a way of trying to find an interpretation of quantum mechanics that leaves indeterminism an inherent property of nature rather than a limitation of knowledge."
• Arun Ghosh [on a revised version of The Eleven Pictures of Time] "The present version is substantially different from the volume I had read two years back, and is a tremendously important piece of work. ...This, in my view, is a truly revolutionary book (not merely an excellent book as I had thought")..."
• Kapila Vatsyayana (Member UNESCO executive Board, and former Secretary, Department of Culture, Govt. of India, and Director, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts) [On The Eleven Pictures of Time, in Sandhan, 4 (2) (2004) 180--85] "With masterly command of primary sources and a delightful sense of wit and humour, C. K. Raju traces the history of the notions of time...a period of 2000 years is covered in swift strokes....does scientific theory and its postulates get intrinsically embroiled with the dominant political and religious discourse? Is scientific theory then 'context' and value free, is the key question which is asked by a scientist with rare courage and boldness. C. K. Raju'point[s] out not only the philosophic underpinnings but also the role of the prevailing power equations in the realm of politics and religion. Perhaps never before have these dimensions been brought to the fore with such incisive sharpness. Brilliant, thought provoking and singular..."
• D. P. Chattopadhyaya (former Governor of Rajasthan, and Union Cabinet Minister) [On The Eleven Pictures of Time] "...[a] very scholarly and thoughtful book". expectedly admirable."
• Don Miller (former Professor, University of Melbourne)[Review of The Eleven Pictures of Time in Time and Society London, 13(2), September 2004, pp. 405-407. This is a book with a difference, and the difference will excite some readers, as it did me, and infuriate many others. It is a sustained critique of the dominant western faith in the linearity of time. Fittingly the author presents a non-linear book... Raju's quest is a bold one, an excavation of the physics, philosophy and politics of time over the last 1600 years. We could add time's 'theology' and 'ideology' to the title. He gives us a holistic study of time. ...Central to Raju's perspective is the obvious yet neglected idea that the notion of time is fundamental to both religion and science, each of which has influenced the other. ...This unique book weaves its complex way through the subsequent labyrinth relationship between Christian theology and the physics of time. It is a story of the West. But it is a story informed by non-western understanding as well. It is chastening to discover, among all the familiar and less familiar western names, so many new names, movements and theories attempting to tackle the vital paradoxes of time and their consequences, not least for ethics. The author constantly presents us with complex distinctions commonly ignored... The webs of relationships Raju refers to undermine the assumption that theories of time are the product of objective scientific thought. Further, he shows that the likewise common assumption that the only debate is between two opposing poles, the linear and the cyclical models of time, is a spurious and meaningless one, and one which has hampered western physics. He illustrates eleven pictures of time; some linear pictures being incompatible among themselves yet compatible with some cyclic pictures. For both these lines of (connected) thought, this book will be anathema to many western physicists and certain theologians. Raju ends calling for a de-theologizing of physics. Towards this process Raju argues that the most reasonable position after the advent of relativity--in which Poincare not Einstein is the author's hero-- is the idea of the tilt of time [a notion he apparently introduced in an earlier work, Time: Towards a Consistent Theory, 1994.]. The tilt in the arrow of time is non-mechanist, so the universe is no longer seen as a grand piece of clockwork in which the past cannot exist in the present. The individual can no longer be credited for creative acts in this scheme of things, nor are priority debates useful. Value shifts from the individual to the collective. The tilt increases order and this order-creation becomes more the purpose of life rather than a crude competitive survival. This has to be a cooperative effort so, rather than social and moral inequity, as in time= money, the tilt suggests a way of life and a social organization based on harmony, spontaneity, and equity. (471) ...I want to compliment and thank C.K.Raju for what he has done in this important book. Future debate ought begin here.
• Ubiratan D'Ambrosio (author of Ethnomathematics, Member UNESCO Board: on Cultural Foundations of Mathematics) I enjoyed very much the book....proof in the western mathematical tradition is dealt with remarkable originality by C. K. Raju. The author raises basic issues which are germane to the philosophy of mathematics. Raju succeeds in offering a treatment which is both didactical and rigorous. I have no hesitation at all in placing this book among the best treatments of the history and philosophy of mathematics.
• Press reports etc. For further details, press reports, interviews, and features etc. see http://11PicsOfTime.com.