Kuppuswamy Anantha Padmanabhan (born 5 April 1945) is an Indian academician well known for his contributions in the field of materials & metallurgical science and engineering. In particular, he is well renowned for his contributions to superplasticity. He is currently professor of eminence (honorary), Anna University, Chennai; member, Research and Innovation Advisory Board, TCS and a research advisor to TCS and Aditya Birla S&T Company. He is a former director of Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur) and a former dean, academic research, IIT Madras, India. In 1994, he became the first Indian to receive the "Forschungspreis" of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany. For his research contributions, the University of Cambridge, UK, conferred on him the highest academic