We feel deeply saddened to convey the message of the untimely demise of Prof. Paul Kodiyan Thomas, HOD, Department of Physics and Electronics, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore on September 16, 2022. He was an astrophysicist, researcher, a wonderful teacher and an excellent administrator. He leaves behind his wife Shini and two sons Ein and Kevin.
Paul KT (as he was generally known) was born on May 29, 1964 in Ernakulam, Kerala, India. After completing his BSc in Physics from Calicut University in 1984, he obtained his MSc in Physics in 1986 from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala. Then since October 13, 1986, he started serving as the faculty of the Physics department at CHRIST (Deemed to be University). It was during the early years of the new millennium, Paul KT developed interest in astrophysics. To pursue his interest, he completed MPhil in Physics in 2006. Following this, he did his PhD in stellar astrophysics from the CHRIST (Deemed to be University) in 2013, under the guidance of Dr. Annapurni Subramaniam, currently, the Director of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore. The area of specialization for Dr. Paul was spectroscopic studies of Classical Be stars. These are interesting stars which show emission lines of different elements in their spectra, indicating the presence of a circumstellar disc surrounding the central star. His thesis focused on photometric and spectroscopic analysis as well as understanding the Be-phenomenon in our Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds.
Within years after completion of his PhD, Paul KT played an instrumental role in developing an active research group in astrophysics at Physics Department of CHRIST. His vision for the department, excellent administrative skills blended with his admirable personality and deep knowledge of the subject helped to develop a strong group within a span of just a few years. Paul KT was an active member of the Astronomical Society of India (ASI) and took the pivotal role to host the ASI-2019 Meeting at the CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore. This event was a grand success with more than 350 astronomers, research scholars and students from across the nation participating in the meeting and highlighting their works in different fields of astronomy. Further in November, 2019, Dr. Paul played an instrumental role in organizing the international conference IRIS-2019 at the university, thus helping in establishing CHRIST (Deemed to be University) as a centre for active research and studies in astronomy in India.
Over the period of last 5 years, CHRIST (Deemed to be University) took a giant leap and presently hosts a highly active research group working in numerous aspects of astrophysics. Starting from strength of only 3 faculties and few research scholars in the area of astrophysics in 2017, currently the department boosts of comprising a workforce of 8 faculties, around 30 PhD scholars and 2 post-doc fellows engaged in addressing various aspects of stellar, extra galactic physics and cosmology. The department also has fruitful collaborations with different reputed national and international institutions and universities. Dr. Paul took the instrumental step in establishing this active research team, which materialized under his leadership. As a result, an average of 8-10 papers are being published in reputed peer-reviewed journals from the astrophysics group of the department since 2021. Apart from building such a team, Paul KT was himself an active researcher in astrophysics. He has published around 25 papers in different peer-reviewed journals along with organizing several seminars, workshops, conferences for promoting astronomy among young students. The last few of his papers (works led by his students such as Prajwel Joseph, Gourav Banerjee) are accepted for publication at the time of writing this obituary.
Paul KT leaves a legacy of research in astrophysics in the department of the university which will always be remembered with deep respect and love.
By Gourav Banerjee with inputs from Dr. Blesson Mathew, both from CHRIST (Deemed to be University) and Dr. Annapurni Subramaniam, Director, IIA.