[2] Ashtekar has also written a number of descriptions of loop quantum gravity that are accessible to non-physicists.
In 1999, Ashtekar and his colleagues were able to calculate the entropy for a black hole, matching a 1974 prediction by Stephen Hawking.
[5] Oxford mathematical physicist Roger Penrose has described Ashtekar's approach to quantum gravity as "The most important of all the attempts at 'quantizing' general relativity.
After completing his undergraduate education in India, Ashtekar enrolled in the graduate program for gravitation at the University of Texas at Austin.
Abhay Ashtekar is an atheist, though he enjoys reading on Indian and other eastern philosophy, namely the Tao and the Zen traditions.