About Time

Time assumes a mystic, surreal character when one realises that it has no beginning nor end. It is eternal. It flows only in one direction, from the past to the future, though mathematics tells us that there is no earthly reason why it cannot flow in the reverse direction. As if these absurdities were not enough, Albert Einstein queered the pitch by promulgating that time is the fourth dimension in which the Universe exists; that it is inseparable from space. Further, there is no absolute time but that it is dependent on the frame of reference of the observer. Perhaps Einstein or Stephen Hawking who dared to write A Brief History of Time can claim to have understood time in its entirety. Mere mortals like us can only make a brave attempt to do so. This is one such attempt.

A popular science writer par excellence, Bal Phondke's columns are featured in almost all leading Marathi newspapers. With the NCSTC National Award and ÏNSA Tndira Gandhi Award for best science popularisation, he has added one more—the B.C. Deb Memorial Award from the Indian Science Congress. After obtaining doctorate in biophysics-immunology from London University, he began his career as a research scientist in BARC. He rose to become chief editor of Science Today, science edition of the Times of India group of newspapers, and -later Director of National Institute of Science Communication (CSIR). Today he is a prolific freelance science communicator.