It was a day of homecoming on Wednesday for Pune-based astrophysicist Thanu Padmanabhan as he paid a visit to University College here, his alma mater.
Dr. Padmanabhan, a Distinguished Professor at the Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune, was at the college to deliver the inaugural lecture in Physics, at a lecture series held as part of the 150th anniversary celebration of the institution.
He had completed his Bachelors and Masters in Physics at the college in 1977 and 1979 respectively, securing gold medals in both. Fondly reminiscing his student days at the college, he said this was the place that essentially made him who he was today.
Inspiration
Professors Govindan (Physics department) and B. Hrdayakumari (English department) were two persons who were great sources of inspiration for him.
‘Quantum Swami’
Dr. Padmanabhan was no stranger to giving lectures on the campus as even as a B.Sc. student at the college, he used to teach students of the M.Sc. Physics and Mathematics programmes, S. Santhosh Kumar, a former classmate of his, told The Hindu on the sidelines of the lecture.
He was one among a few of the 1974-77 B.Sc. Physics batch alumni that attended the lecture to reconnect with their former classmate.
‘Quantum Swami’ was the moniker the group had given to Dr. Padmanabhan back then, Mr. Santhosh Kumar said, given his extraordinary intellectual calibre and expertise.
Like Mr. Santhosh Kumar, who retired as chief manager at the State Bank of Travancore, many students of the batch diverged into banking and other occupations while Dr. Padmanabhan went on to become a leading astrophysicist, with awards such as the Padma Shri and the Infosys Foundation Prize for Physical Sciences under his belt.
He is known for his pioneering work in quantum theory, structure formation in the universe, and gravity.
