Padma Shri-awardee Predhiman Krishan Kaw, widely considered the father of India's nuclear fusion programme, has passed away, aged 69. Born in Kashmir, the Princeton professor founded the Institute for Plasma Research (IPR), Gandhinagar, which built India's first tokamak fusion device. IPR helped India become one of the seven members of the $14-billion ITER, the world's largest fusion experiment.