His research work has involved Mach's principle, quantum cosmology, and action-at-a-distance physics. Narlikar was part of a study which cultured microorganisms from stratospheric air samples obtained at 41 km. He was appointed as the chairperson of The Advisory Group for Textbooks in Science and Mathematics, the textbook development committee responsible for developing textbooks in Science and Mathematics, published by NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training). Honours Narlikar has received many national and international awards and honorary doctorates. India's second-highest civilian honour, Padma Vibhushan, was awarded to him in 2004 for his research work. Prior to this, in 1965, he was conferred Padma Bhushan. He was awarded 'Rashtra Bhushan' in 1981 by FIE Foundation, Ichalkaranji. He received Maharashtra Bhushan Award for the year 2010. He is a recipient of Bhatnagar Award, M.P. Birla Award, and the Prix Jules Janssen of the Société astronomique de France (French Astronomical Society). He is an Associate of the Royal Astronomical Society of London, and a Fellow of the three Indian National Science Academies and the Third World Academy of Sciences. Apart from his scientific research, Narlikar has been well known as a communicator of science through his books, articles, and radio & television programs. For these efforts, he was honoured in 1996 by UNESCO with the Kalinga Prize. He was featured on Carl Sagan's TV show Cosmos: A Personal Voyage in the late 1980s. In 1989, he received the Atmaram Award by Central Hindi Directorate. He received the Indira Gandhi Award of the Indian National Science Academy in 1990. He also served on the Physical Sciences jury for the Infosys Prize in 2009. In 2014, he received a Sahitya Akademi Award for his autobiography in Marathi, Chaar Nagarantale Maze Vishwa. He presided over the 94th Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan held at Nashik in January 2021. Books Besides scientific papers and books and popular science literature, Narlikar has written science fiction, novels, and short stories in English, Hindi, and Marathi. He is also the consultant for the Science and Mathematics textbooks of NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training, India). Non-fiction In English: Facts and Speculations in Cosmology, with G. Burbridge, Cambridge University Press 2008, Current Issues in Cosmology, 2006 A Different Approach to Cosmology: From a Static Universe through the Big Bang towards Reality, 2005 Fred Hoyle's Universe, 2003 Scientific Edge: The Indian Scientist from Vedic to Modern Times, 2003 An