Thanu Padmanabhan

Thanu Padmanabhan ( born March 10, 1957 in Trivandrum, Kerala, India) is an Indian physicist who deals with astrophysics and gravitational physics.

Padmanabhan studied from 1974 at the University of Kerala, where he in 1979 his diploma ( master's degree ) acquired, where he won the Gold Medal of the University. In 1983 he received his doctorate at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bombay. At the Tata Institute he stayed from 1980 until 1992. 1986/7 he was a post-doc at the Institute for Astronomy ( IOA) of the University of Cambridge. He is a professor and dean at the Interuniversity Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics ( IUCAA ) in Pune. He has been a visiting scientist at the IOA ( several times, including Sackler Distinguished Astronomer 2002, 2003, 2009), Caltech (1996 to 1998), at Pennsylvania State University ( 1995) and Princeton University (1994).

Padmanabhan concerned as a limit in the sense of statistical mechanics of space-time atoms (building on ideas with cosmology (for example, structure formation in the early universe ) and quantum gravity, where he represents a view of the gravity as emergent theory in recent times ( 2000s ) by Ted Jacobson 1995). He also wrote popular science books and magazine articles, among other things he had from 1985 to 1992, the recreational mathematics column - Play Themes in Science Today.

In 1991 he was awarded the Birla Science Prize, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar prize in 1996 and 2007, the Padma Shri. In 2008 he received the first prize in the essay competition of the Gravity Research Foundation. 2009 to 2011 he has been President of the Section cosmology in the International Astronomical Union. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences (1993 ), the Indian Academy of Sciences and the Indian National Science Academy.

He is married to the astrophysicist Vasanti Padmanabhan, with whom he has a daughter.

Writings

  • With Narlikar: Gravity, gauge theories and quantum cosmology, Reidel, 1986
  • Structure formation in the Universe, Cambridge University Press ( CUP) 1993
  • After the first three minutes - the story of our universe, CUP 1998
  • Cosmology and Astrophysics through problem, CUP 1996
  • Theoretical Astrophysics, Volume 1-3, CUP 1998, 2000, 2001 ( Volume 1: Physical Processes, Vol.2 Stars and Stellar Systems, Galaxies and Cosmology Vol.3 )
  • An invitation to Astrophysics, World Scientific 2006
  • Quantum Themes: The Charms of the Microworld, World Scientific 2009
  • Gravitation: Foundations and Frontiers, CUP 2010
  • Statistical Mechanics of gravitating systems, Physics Reports, Volume 188, 1990, pp. 285-362
  • Cosmological Constant - the Weight of the Vacuum, Physics Reports, Volume 380, 2003, pp. 235-320 (2003)
  • Physical Significance of Planck length, Annals of Physics, Volume 165, 1985, p 38
  • Gravity and the Thermodynamics of Horizons, Physics Reports, Volume 406, 2005, p 49
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