Roger Blandford
I am still in shock from learning of the passing of Paddy Padmanabhan. In many exuberant encounters in Pune, Bangalore and Pasadena, Paddy seemed ageless. A bundle of energy and a constant source of inspiration to his colleagues, his students and the general public. I never found a topic where he did not have an insight or an idea, an informed opinion or a pertinent question. Paddy's infectious enthusiasm for science and puzzles propagated through Indian physics and astrophysics. We all know that he was brilliant and prolific. However, he was also generous and kind and will be deeply missed by all of us who had the privilege of meeting him.
Ranjeev Misra
Apart from his major science achievements, Paddy was one of the few scientists who had a deep and everlasting influence on direction of scientific research as well as methodology. This he achieved not only directly through his books, lectures and teaching, but also by a few sentences spoken over coffee and even by a brief exchange of words in the corridor. He was an advisor to many of us, who also experienced his wit and humor, as he expressed his opinions on the most serious and involved matters. He is not replaceable and he will be missed.
John Peacock
Awe-inspiring energy and depth of understanding
Looking at my bookshelves, I see that they contain no fewer than eight textbooks by Paddy, totalling over 4000 pages. To someone who managed to complete a single textbook, I find this achievement almost incomprehensible: how is it possible for a single individual to understand so much, so deeply, and to have the energy to write it down in such detail? And this is only part of Paddy's legacy, without touching on his courage in attacking fundamental research problems such as the nature of gravity itself. He was, quite simply, a force of nature. I had known his papers and books for around a decade before we finally met in Cambridge around 2001, and it was a pleasure to get to know him and to appreciate in person the great sense of fun that he brought to science. We only met a few times, the most recent being when he visited Edinburgh in 2013, but were in touch through email quite often and I came to feel that we knew each other quite well. How can such a wonderful intellect be quenched so suddenly? We all face such a fate, but few of us will leave such a big hole when we go, nor will we leave such an influential legacy.
Shyam Tandon
The news of Paddy's untimely death was shocking. He was as active in his research and teaching as he had been for some decades. His brilliance was visible to most of us from the day he joined TIFR as a PhD student. Much was expected of him and he more than fulfilled the expectations even with a relatively early end of his career. I had the good luck of working with him on setting question papers for PhD entrance examinations of IUCAA & NCRA. In this process too his insistence on originality was visible through discouraging use of old questions from any source. His emphasis on clarity of concepts can be seen by the example of detailed explanation of "e" in the book "The Dawn of Science" by him and Vasanthi. He was very selective about attending seminars and was thought of as uncompromising. I remember a seminar during which he thought that the work being reported had some fundamental flaw and he insisted on discussing the issue fully during the seminar and not leave it for later.
His very substantial ontributions to research, teaching, and science outreach are well known for their quality as well as quantity. He also had administrative acumen which did not find full expression for lack of challenge. We have lost him so early but his contributions would always remain to inspire the coming generations to excel.
My wife Shobhana joins me in praying for peace to Vasanthi and Hamsa, and the extended family.
Tamara Davis
I was enormously saddened to hear of Paddy's recent passing. He was such a lively and inspiring spirit, and so generous with his knowledge. I remember meeting him when I was a PhD student, and he spoke at length with me about entropy of the cosmological event horizon, and explanations for dark energy. He was really supportive and I feel like he has been one of the physicists who most influenced my career. He always asked the fundamental questions, and was incredibly prolific in his contributions. I’ll always remember the support he gave to a lowly PhD student who was just finding her feet and still had so much to learn (and will always have so much to learn).
I am really glad I was able to visit him at IUCAA in Pune for a conference a few years back, and stay for a week-long study break afterwards. That was a really special time for me that I will always remember with fondness. His legacy lives on.
