  Thanu Padmanabhan was a renowned Indian theoretical physicist known for his
research in general relativity, cosmology, and quantum gravity. In an
extraordinary career spanning forty-two years, he published more than three
hundred research articles, wrote ten highly successful technical and popular
books, and mentored nearly thirty graduate students and post-doctoral fellows.
He is best known for his deep work investigating gravitation as an emergent
thermodynamic phenomenon. He was an outstanding teacher, and an indefatigable
populariser of science, who travelled very widely to motivate and inspire young
students. Paddy, as he was affectionately known, was also a close friend to his
students and collaborators, treating them as part of his extended academic
family. On September 17, 2021 Paddy passed away very unexpectedly, at the age
of sixty-four and at the height of his research career, while serving as a
Distinguished Professor at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and
Astrophysics, Pune. His untimely demise has come as a shock to his family and
friends and colleagues. In this article, several of them have come together to
pay their tributes and share their fond memories of Paddy.
