Thanu Padmanabhan was about to deliver a lecture at Kerala University

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The offer of Kerala University vice-chancellor post might have failed to lure Thanu Padmanabhan, but he was more than willing to participate in the golden jubilee celebrations of the university’s physics department.
He had agreed to the organizers of the event that he would come down to the city and deliver a ‘luminary lecture’ based on his studies on gravity and relativity.
Padmanabhan, who had his school and college education in the city, had joined University College in 1975 as a physics student. In two years, he published his first paper on general relativity in 1977. “The death of Padmanabhan came as a rude shock. We had an elaborate conversation over phone on Thursday evening. He was very keen on setting home at Nettayam where he had brought a piece of land some years ago. He was planning to set up a scientific institute with the support of the state government,” said CPM politburo member M A Baby.
Baby recalled how politely Padmanabhan turned down an invite to take up the post of KU VC when he was the state education minister in the V S Achuthanandan government.
KU’s physics department celebrated its golden jubilee celebrations in 2020 December. “As part of the celebration, we are organizing 50 lectures by eminent scientists. When I contacted him with the request to deliver a lecture online, he said he would better come to the university and deliver the lecture.
He said he wanted to get the feedback, the instant expression on the face of students when he delivers a lecture,” said K S Sibi, head of physics department, KU. The university was planning to organize the lecture after the reopening of colleges.
People from different walks of life, including governor Arif Mohammed Khan and chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, condoled the demise of Padmanabhan. “He was a gifted science communicator and his masterful contribution to research in cosmology and astrophysics will be long remembered,” governor said in his message. The CM said the life and contributions of Padmanabhan would be an inspiration to science students for ever.
Science writer Rajagopal Kamath considers Padmanabhan as a scientist who was sure about the limits of knowable. “He was such a down-to-earth person and a nice talker.
Very few know that he had an asteroid to his credit and he named it after his daughter Hamsa,” he said. Kamath considers the books ‘After The First Three Minutes’ and ‘The Dawn of Science’ as among the best beginners guides to the world of science and astrophysics.