India, April 15 -- Physicist Ranjit Nair, who founded the Centre for Philosophy and the Foundations of Science, passed away in New Delhi on Monday. He was 70. Trained in physics and philosophy at the University of Cambridge, Nair's works include "Mind, Matter and Mystery" and "The Republic of Science." He edited the collected works of theoretical physicist ECG Sudarshan.

A champion of Indian science and history, Nair played a key role in getting a bust of polymath Jagadish Chandra Bose installed at his alma mater, Christs College Cambridge.

At Thiruvananthapuram's University College, Nair was part of a student-organised science society, whose other members included the late astrophysicist Thanu Padmanabhan and Professor V Parameswaran N...