Knowing Paddy’s passing away was a matter of great shock! No body had imagined this, such a sudden departure. I would wish He have had many more creative years! We were colleagues at TIFR For many years, shared a common office, and even ended up Writing a paper or two! I wish their family sincere condolences.
I have had the privilege of knowing Padmanabhan for nearly 45 years. He was a Masters student and I was a few years his senior but what brought us together was an organization called Science Society which was involved both in bringing science students, especially Physics students, together for advanced learning as well as for popularization of science among the general public. Trivandrum was a small town and we all lived within walking distance of each other and used to visit each other whenever we wanted to discuss something. Our interactions continued after we both moved to Bombay in the early 1980s. I still have wonderful memories of visiting Padmanabhan and Vasanthi at the TIFR campus where we would hang out together and shared conversations about every topic under (and sometimes well beyond) the sun. He was easily the most brilliant mind of my generation and I was always in awe of his ability to analyze problems (scientific, social or personal) incisively and arrive at solutions. His death is a personal loss to me, but he will always live in our memories.
Paddy has left us too soon. I admired him for how much he knew, and how much he enjoyed sharing what he knew. To me, he seemed like a fearless, confident gadfly -- a happy heretic -- full of deep insights, distributed generously with mischievous smiles. Here is one of his insights about the temperature of the cosmic event horizon: "If it has a temperature, it has structure".
I admired him for his honesty as a scientist and for his deep humanity. In 2019, in Pune, I interviewed him about the question "Are We Alone?"
Here is the video link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z43fmKqxQ9o
I was just numbed on hearing the shocking news about this truly amazing man. Even as I do realise it has been a few days since then and everyone must still be struggling to recover from this overbearing loss, it is a scar that will never heal. What a tragedy. Paddy has been stunningly influential as a teacher and a genius researcher for many around the world, and some like me were just fortunate to be able to listen and learn from his lectures and pep talks.
Our thoughts are with everyone there in Pune and around the world at these truly difficult times, and particularly with Paddy's close family. How hard and devastating this is for them. It was so sudden and so surreal.
He was a great scientist, teacher, populariser of science and above all a good and humble person. My personal association with him was in the form of a student who has attended some of his countless talks. He had the unusual gift of explaining things in a rigorous, somewhat complicated but in an enjoyable way. I will always cherish his advice given to me when I attended his talk for first time. He advised me to do things in the standard way and to not let go the beauty of the formulation for the ease of calculation. I am forever grateful to him for this. Thank You Paddy! May your soul find the truth about the cosmos and eternal peace in this new phase of your journey.
The news of Paddy's passing away came as a shocking thunderbolt. I had first met him in his office at TIFR in 1989, and many times later during formal and informal interactions. We all loved him for his deep wisdom, amazing insights and effective communication of intricate ideas. That kept the fire on, a trait of human mind, as sharp as his own. Now even though he is lost somewhere in the future light cone, he will live on by continuing to inspire generations, not just in IUCAA but in fact, everywhere around.
In his span of life, from our frame of reference, he came, he saw, he conquered... Veni Vidi Vici.
At this sombre hour driven by grief, I join my colleagues at the University of Lucknow to send our sincere condolences
I am not in a position to share my personal grief about the loss of an iconic figure like Prof. Padmanabhan! It is a great great loss to our nation, to the field of physics, to the inspiration that sparks young minds to take a career in physics and many more of it. His contributions in physics is so vast that it would probably take many many years for someone to come and fill the void that Paddy left with us. My sincere condolences to his students, close colleagues , friends and to his immediate family. Rest in peace Prof. Padmanabhan. Teaching structure formation in class will never be easy for me now! Everytime I would look up your book and feel the void.
I am greatly aggrieved by the untimely demise of Prof. Thanu Padmanabhan. Even though my research area is very different from his, It was a great fortune for me to have a very close relationship with him. It was a routine for me to visit him in his office and chat with him during my many visits to IUCAA. Also, we used to meet during his visits to Kerala as part of academic or non-academic pursuits. There were many occasions when I had travelled with him. These had been very enjoyable, with his wits and humour and opinions on all contemporary matters happening around. I remember in many circumstances, our discussions slipped into the ways of improving the current education scenario in general and particularly in the state. I also got the privilege to be with him and his family during a vacation in Kerala, which is a very memorable occasion in my and my family’s lives. Also, I had the privilege to be invited to his home with his student Karthik to enjoy the high tea and the discussion around it.
Now that his loss is a reality, I feel that the scientific community should work hard to propel the revolution which he started in understanding gravity, with equal rigour and to lead it to a triumphant conclusion. With his illustrious array of students, I have no doubt, that this is a reality which we surely are going to witness in future. Also, we all should strive to sensitise the student community with the importance of his path-breaking work and his position in the arena of science vis-a-vis the legends. I am sure that more and more youngsters will pay the rightful tribute to him through their contributions to the field, in future.
