IUCAA Pune Distinguished Professor Thanu Padmanabhan Passes Away

Pune, 17th September 2021: Padmashri Prof. Thanu Padmanabhan (64), a distinguished professor working with the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), passed away today. He suffered cardiac arrest in the morning and was rushed to a hospital where he died.

He is survived by his wife Vasanthi Padmanabhan, who too is a doctorate in Astrophysics, and daughter Hamsa Padmanabhan who is currently a researcher at the University of Geneva, Switzerland.

He was a distinguished Professor at Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) and had devoted his career to understanding the nature of Gravity. Paddy as he was popularly known in the scientific community started his career at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research for his PhD in 1979 after receiving an M.Sc. degree in Physics from the University College, Kerala University. He won the Gold Medal of the University for topping both the B.Sc. and M.Sc. courses. 

Prof. Padmanabhan did his doctoral research work in Quantum Cosmology under the renowned Prof. Jayant Vishnu Narlikar. He obtained a faculty position in TIFR in 1980 and held different positions there till 1992, before he moved to IUCAA, Pune. Professor Padmanabhan had been Dean, Core Academic Programmes, and was a Distinguished Professor at IUCAA. He was an adjunct faculty member at IISER (Mohali), IISER (Trivandrum), and Jamia Millia Islamia in addition to TIFR, Mumbai, IISER (Pune), Raman Research Institute, Bangalore, and Harish Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad. 

Prof. Thanu Padmanabhan obtained key visiting positions at different renowned institutes across the world. He was a Visiting Professor at the Pauli Centre for Theoretical Studies, ETH, Zurich, Sackler Distinguished Astronomer of Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, U.K., Visiting Faculty at Princeton, Pennsylvania State University, Caltech and Homi Bhabha Lecturer at the U.K. He was also involved in policymaking and administration of the International Astronomical Union and was the President of Commission 47 on Cosmology. He was the Chairman, Commission 19 (Astrophysics) of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics. 

His research received prizes from the Gravity Research Foundation, USA, eight times, including the first award in 2008. He has hundreds of papers on Cosmology, quantum and classical gravity, and many other branches of physics, and is one of the most-cited authors in the Physical Sciences in India. His textbooks are some of the most widely-read in the subject, and each of his popular books on science and the history of science is unique in every way. 

In his entire career, Prof. Padmanabhan authored a phenomenal 300 papers, cited by other researchers around the world around 16,000 times. He supervised 18 PhD students who are themselves leading academics in the top Universities and research institutes of the country. Prof. Thanu Padmanabhan was well known across the global scientific community for his books on Astrophysics and Cosmology, considered landmark references for researchers and teachers worldwide. His passion for innovative teaching methodologies is reflected in his hugely popular books. In India and abroad, he was considered a brilliant teacher, and his lectures provided creative and original approaches to this challenging field of theoretical field of Science. Prof. Thanu Padmanabhan’s research gives a new insight into the confluence of General Relativity and Quantum Theory to recognize the critical theoretical problems from a deeper, more fundamental perspective and attempt to solve them. 

His prestigious awards

• Lifetime Achievement Award (Kerala Sasthra Puraskaram) of the Government of Kerala,

(2021) 

• The Birla Memorial Award (2019)

• Goyal Prize in Physical Sciences (2012)

• Third World Academy of Sciences Prize in Physics (2011)

• Infosys Science Prize in Physical Sciences (2009), M. P. 

• Vainu Bappu International Award of the Indian National Science Academy (2007)

• Miegunah Fellowship Award of University of Melbourne (2004)

• G.D. Birla Award for Scientific Research (2003)

• Al-Khwarizmi International Award (2002)

• Millennium Medal of CSIR (2000)

• Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award (1996)

• B. M. Birla Science Prize (1991)

• INSA Young Scientists Award (1984)

Prof. Somak Raychaudhuri, Director, IUCAA said, “I had known Padmanabhan (Paddy) for over 35 years. I first met him during my first year as a PhD student in Cambridge, and he was spending a year as a visiting fellow. I was amazed by his sharp intellect and lightning mind, and his uncompromising standards, at that time – and he hadn’t changed a bit in any of these in all these years. Over the years, he became a mentor and friend, and I would go to him, as would so many others, to seek his opinion on the interpretation of a scientific concept, as well as dilemmas in administrative matters -and it was guaranteed I would come away with a deeply incisive but down-to-earth insight into the matter. Paddy, as he was fondly called, was deeply engaged in all levels of the academic process. He carried out path-breaking research in many branches of science. He was deeply original, had a keen interest in and was engaged in the development of the scientific thought process at every level. He was committed to training young people and reaching out to the public. He also was much interested in the long tradition of Indian science. He was still very young in outlook and mind – and had a long way to go. This is a loss beyond repair not just for his friends, students and associates, but for the Indian Scientific community at large.”