Editing Abhay Ashtekar

{{Short description|Indian-American theoretical physicist}}
{{redirect|Ashtekar|Ashtekar Surname|Swakula Sali}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2018}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Abhay Vasant Ashtekar
| caption           = 
| birth_date        = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1949|7|5}}
| birth_place       = <!-- removing because source only says he grew up there, not that he was born there: [[Kolhapur]], Maharashtra, India<ref name="NYT2">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/20/science/scientist-at-work-abhay-ashtekar-taste-testing-a-recipe-for-the-cosmos.html?pagewanted=2|title=Science at work - page 2|newspaper=The New York Times | first=James | last=Glanz | date=20 April 1999 | access-date=23 April 2010}}</ref>-->
| death_date        =  
| death_place       = 
| fields            = [[Theoretical physics]]
| workplaces        = [[Pennsylvania State University]]
| alma_mater        = [[University of Texas, Austin]], [[University of Chicago]]
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Robert Geroch]]
| doctoral_students = 
| known_for         = [[Ashtekar variables]]<br/>[[Loop quantum gravity]]<br/>[[Loop quantum cosmology]]
| awards            = Member of [[National Academy of Sciences]], first Gravity Prize by the [[Gravity Research Foundation]], [[Massachusetts]], Einstein Prize
| signature         = <!--(filename only)-->
| footnotes         = 
}}
'''Abhay Vasant Ashtekar''' (born 5 July 1949) is an Indian theoretical physicist who created [[Ashtekar variables]] and is one of the founders of [[loop quantum gravity]] and its subfield [[loop quantum cosmology]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.freepressjournal.in/world/indian-american-professor-abhay-ashtekar-wins-einstein-prize-7-facts-about-the-physicist/1378066 | title=Indian American professor Abhay Ashtekar wins Einstein prize, 7 facts about the physicist }}</ref> Ashtekar has also written a number of descriptions of loop quantum gravity that are accessible to non-physicists. He is an Evan Pugh Professor Emeritus of Physics and former Director of the Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry (now [[Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos]])<ref>{{cite web|title=Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos|url=https://igc.psu.edu|access-date=12 September 2024}}</ref> and [[Center for Fundamental Theory]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Center for Fundamental Theory|url=https://cft.igc.psu.edu|access-date=12 September 2024}}</ref> at [[Pennsylvania State University]].

In 1999, Ashtekar and his colleagues were able to calculate the [[entropy]] for a [[black hole]], matching a 1974 prediction by [[Stephen Hawking]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/20/science/scientist-at-work-abhay-ashtekar-taste-testing-a-recipe-for-the-cosmos.html?pagewanted=3|title=Science at work - page 3|newspaper=The New York Times | first=James | last=Glanz | date=20 April 1999 | access-date=23 April 2010}}</ref> Oxford mathematical physicist [[Roger Penrose]] has described Ashtekar's approach to [[quantum gravity]] as "The most important of all the attempts at 'quantizing' general relativity."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/20/science/scientist-at-work-abhay-ashtekar-taste-testing-a-recipe-for-the-cosmos.html?pagewanted=1|title=Science at work - page 1|newspaper=The New York Times | first=James | last=Glanz | date=20 April 1999 | access-date=23 April 2010}}</ref> Ashtekar was elected member of the National Academy of Sciences in May 2016.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nasonline.org/news-and-multimedia/news/may-3-2016-NAS-Election.html |title=May 3, 2016: NAS Members and Foreign Associates Elected |access-date=4 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506052951/http://www.nasonline.org/news-and-multimedia/news/may-3-2016-NAS-Election.html |archive-date=6 May 2016 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

==Biography==
Abhay Ashtekar grew up in several cities, including [[Mumbai]], in the state of [[Maharashtra]], India. After completing his undergraduate education in India, Ashtekar enrolled in the graduate program for [[gravitation]] at the [[University of Texas at Austin]].<ref name="NYT2">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/20/science/scientist-at-work-abhay-ashtekar-taste-testing-a-recipe-for-the-cosmos.html?pagewanted=2|title=Science at work - page 2|newspaper=The New York Times | first=James | last=Glanz | date=20 April 1999 | access-date=23 April 2010}}</ref> He went on to complete his [[PhD]] at the [[University of Chicago]] under the supervision of [[Robert Geroch]] in 1978 and held several appointments at [[University of Oxford|Oxford]], [[University of Paris|Paris]], [[Syracuse University|Syracuse]] before settling at [[Pennsylvania State University]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gravity.psu.edu/people/Ashtekar/cv.html|title=Abhay Ashtekar - CV}}</ref>

He married Christine Clarke in 1986<ref name="Rediff on the Net">{{cite web|url=http://www.rediff.com/news/1999/may/15us5.htm|title=Dr. Abhay Ashtekar|publisher=Rediff on the Net}}</ref> and the two have a son, Neil Ashtekar.

==Religious views==
Abhay Ashtekar is an [[atheist]], though he enjoys reading on Indian and other eastern philosophy, namely the [[Tao]] and the [[Zen]] traditions. Furthermore, he believes to be inspired from the [[Bhagavad Gita]] as regards his attitude towards work.<ref name="Rediff on the Net"/>

==Books==
# A. Magnon and A. Ashtekar, Translation from French of Élie Cartan's work, "Sur les variétés à connexion affine et la théorie de la relativité généralisée" with a commentary and foreword by [[Andrzej Trautman|A. Trautman]], Bibliopolis, Naples, 1986, 199 pages.
# A. Ashtekar, Asymptotic Quantization. Bibliopolis, Naples, 1987, 107 pages.
# A. Ashtekar, (with invited contributions) New Perspectives in Canonical Gravity. Bibliopolis, Naples, 1988, 324 pages.
# A. Ashtekar and J. Stachel, Editors; Conceptual Problems of Quantum Gravity. Proceedings of the 1988 Osgood Hill Conference (Birkhauser, N. Y., 1991), 602 pages.
# A. Ashtekar, Lectures on Non-perturbative Canonical Gravity, (Notes prepared in collaboration with R.S. Tate), (World Scientific Singapore, 1991), 334 pages.
# A. Ashtekar, R.C. Cohen, D. Howard, J. Renn, S. Sarkar and A. Shimony (Editors), Revisiting the Foundations of Relativistic Physics, Festschrift in honor of John Stachel, Boston Studies in Philosophy of Science, Volume 234, (Kluwer Academic, 2003).

==See also==
* [[List of loop quantum gravity researchers]]
* [[Big Bounce]]
* [[Carlo Rovelli]]
* [[Lee Smolin]]
* [[Martin Bojowald]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/45807 Oral History interview transcript for Abhay Ashtekar on 3 February 2021, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives]
* {{MathGenealogy |id=92486}}
* [http://cgpg.gravity.psu.edu/people/Ashtekar/index.html Abhay Ashtekar's homepage] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021223211043/http://cgpg.gravity.psu.edu/people/Ashtekar/index.html |date=23 December 2002 }}
* [https://arxiv.org/find/grp_physics/1/au:+ashtekar/0/1/0/all/0/1 Ashtekar's publication] on [[ArXiv]]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashtekar, Abhay}}
[[Category:20th-century Indian physicists]]
[[Category:American relativity theorists]]
[[Category:Loop quantum gravity researchers]]
[[Category:1949 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:University of Chicago alumni]]
[[Category:Pennsylvania State University faculty]]
[[Category:American atheists]]
[[Category:Indian atheists]]
[[Category:Indian emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:American academics of Indian descent]]
[[Category:People from Kolhapur]]
[[Category:Syracuse University faculty]]
[[Category:Scientists from Maharashtra]]
[[mr:अभय अष्टेकर]]
[[Category:American scientists of Asian descent]]