P C Vaidya Papers

Prahlad Chunnilal Vaidya was an Indian mathematician whose primary research was in General Relativity. However, he regarded himself primarily as a teacher of mathematics.

He completed his B.Sc. in Mathematics at the University of Bombay in 1937. Subsequently, he enrolled for an M.Sc.in pure mathematics , but later shifted to applied mathematics, choosing Electromagnetic Theory and Relativity as special subjects. After completing his M.Sc. in 1940, Vaidya briefly taught mathematics before leaving academia in 1941 to participate in Mahatma Gandhi’s Constructive Programme. He also helped establish the Ahimsak Vyayam Sangh in Bombay to train youth for non-violent resistance. In 1942, amid the political climate leading to the Quit India Movement, the Ahimsak Vyayam Sangh was dissolved.

In June 1942, he joined V V Narlikar in Banaras Hindu University as a private research student and began work in General Relativity. By early 1943, he derived an exact solution to Einstein’s field equations describing the gravitational field of a radiating star. His short note appeared in Current Science (June 1943).This solution, now known as the Vaidya metric, extended the 1915 solution of Karl Schwarzschild by incorporating radiation. However, financial constraints ended his full-time research within nine months, and he returned to Gujarat to resume teaching.

He re-started his teaching career as a lecturer in 1943, and went on to become Professor, Vice-Principal, and Principal of colleges, and eventually Head of the Department of Mathematics at Gujarat University. He also served as a Visiting Professor in the United States in 1964.

In the 1960s, reflecting his commitment to mathematics education, he founded and served as editor of Suganitam, a Gujarati-language mathematics magazine aimed at popularising mathematics among students and teachers. His other writings also indicate his effort to promote mathematical thinking in regional language and broaden access to the subject beyond university classrooms.