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Paddy was a great student and teacher

Jayant V. Narlikar

I am shocked by his sudden death. He was a great student and a very popular teacher, and I enjoyed his jovial nature and companionship. He enjoyed solving mathematical puzzles and his entire family had earned a good name in this field. I was hoping that he would continue with his good work for many more years. He managed very well to convey different aspects of astronomy and astrophysics to his students as well as lay persons.

Creative and original with infectious enthusiasm

K. Kasturirangan

I am shocked and deeply grieved to hear about the sudden passing away of Prof. Thanu Padmanabhan. He was a world renowned Scientist, in the area of Astronomy and Astrophysics and a student of J. V. Narlikar, who made several seminal contributions in the fields of cosmology, relativity and many other aspects of theoretical astrophysics. He was also a great teacher and communicator. He wrote books which were fundamental, well-known for their clarity of presentation and widely read and appreciated. Only recently, IUCAA Board of which I am the Chairman, decided to continue his services to benefit out of his sharp mind and creative thinking at the recommendation of Prof Somak Raychaudhury, its Present Director. Prof Padmanabhan always communicated with me about any recognition or other important events involving him and I always replied with great enthusiasm and admiration. There are many things I can write from my personal knowledge about him as a friend, as a colleague and above all as a role model. It is difficult to believe that he is no longer with us. Society is going to be very much poorer by his absence, but life has to go on. The modest way in which we can pay our own tributes to him is to continue the rich traditions of creativity and originality which he always spread with infectious enthusiasm and pray for his departed soul to rest in peace.

Uncompromising Genius

Somak Raychaudhury

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 had a deeply original approach to anything with which he dealt, and 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 to reach 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. Of late he was involved in developing a thermodynamic description of Gravity, which was basic and innovative in many ways. This is a loss beyond repair not just for his friends, students and associates, but for the Indian Scientific community at large.

K. Vijayraghavan