Thanu Padmanabhan, currently Distinguished Professor at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics at Pune, India, is a theoretical physicist whose research spans a wide variety of topics in gravitation, cosmology and quantum gravity. He has authored 10 books and about 250 papers and reviews, many of which have had significant impact in their fields.  He was a Sackler Distinguished Astronomer of IoA, Cambridge, the President of the Cosmology Commission of the International Astronomical Union and the Chairman of the Astrophysics Commission of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics and the recipient of Padma Shri, the Presidential medal which is the fourth highest civilian honor in India.