page_title: Prahalad Chunnilal Vaidya
section_title: Professional career
hierarchical_section_title: Prahalad Chunnilal Vaidya / Biography / Professional career
caption_attribution_description: English: Inauguration of Gujarati Vishwakosh Vol. 19; (from left) Pravinchandra Gambhirdas, Chunibhai Vaidya, Shrenik Kasturbhai and P. C. Vaidya
context_page_description: Prahalad Chunnilal Vaidya, was an Indian physicist and mathematician, renowned for his instrumental work in the general theory of relativity. Apart from his scientific career, he was also an educationist and a follower of Gandhian philosophy in post-independence India, specifically in his domicile state Gujarat.
context_section_description: After his research stint at BHU, he went to a number of places to teach mathematics, including science institutions in Surat, Rajkot and Mumbai. During a small period of 1947 – 48, he went to Tata Institute of Fundamental Research as a research associate. There he became associated with Homi Bhabha, father of India's nuclear program. Due to accommodation constraints, he left Mumbai, and continued the rest of his academic career in Gujarat. From 1948 to 1971, he taught at various colleges including: V. P. College, Vallabh Vidyanagar; Gujarat College, Ahmedabad; M.N. College, Visnagar; and University School of Sciences, Gujarat University.
  Vaidya was a recipient of the Bombay University's Springer Research Scholarship. Vaidya's initial research under this scholarship resulted in a paper that he sent to Robert Oppenheimer, who appreciated the paper and sent it to the American Physical Society journal Physical Review. The journal published the paper in 1951.
  In 1971, he was appointed Chairman of Gujarat Public Service Commission. This was followed by Union Public Service Commission membership during 1977 – 78, during which he served Central Government. His final professional benchmark was the Vice-Chancellorship of Gujarat University during 1978 – 80.
caption: Vaidya inaugurating 19th volume of Gujarati Vishwakosh, beside him is Shrenik Kasturbhai Lalbhai; 22 January 2005
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