Childhood
Padmanabhan was born to Thanu Iyer and Lakshmi on 10 March 1957 in Thiruvananthapuram. He did his schooling in Thiruvananthapuram and earned his B.Sc. (1977) and M.Sc. (1979) in Physics, from the University College Thiruvananthapuram under Kerala University.
Career
Prof. Padmanabhan's career started in the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research for his Ph.D. 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 with Prof. Jayant Vishnu Narlikar. He obtained a Faculty position in TIFR in 1980 and held different Faculty positions there till 1992, when he moved to IUCAA, Pune.
Prof. 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.
Personal
Prof. Padmanabhan married Dr. Vasanthi Padmanabhan, who has a doctorate in Astrophysics. He was a loving and inspiring father to his daughter Dr. Hamsa Padmanabhan who is currently a researcher at the University of Geneva, Switzerland.
Awards
For his outstanding work, Prof. Thanu Padmanabhan was conferred with a large number of awards and distinctions. Some notable ones include:
- Padma Shri (from the President of India, 2007)
- TWAS Prize in Physics (2011)
- Infosys Science Foundation Prize for Physical Sciences (2009)
- Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award (1996)
- Young Scientist Award, (Indian National Science Academy) (1984)
- Nine times (in 1984, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2018 and 2020) including the First Prize in 2008 from the Gravity Research Foundation, USA.