18 July,2026 12:41 PM IST | Mumbai | Vinod Kumar Menon
Professor Vinayak Katdare is seen discussing students’ experimental scripts and offering final guidance at the HBCSE Physics Olympiad Laboratory on June 23. All of the students went on the bag gold medals. PICS/HBCSE
For years, Professor Vinayak S Katdare prepared India's brightest physics students for one dream - to shine at the International Physics Olympiad. But when that dream turned into a historic achievement, the national coach was not there to witness it.
Hours before his sudden demise on June 27 following a cardiac arrest, Prof Katdare conducted a final session with the five students he had trained, unaware it would be their last interaction.
Days later, all five won gold at the 56th International Physics Olympiad in Bucaramanga, Colombia, creating history for India for the second time. The first such achievement came in 2018, when all five gold medallists were also coached by Prof Katdare.
Prof Katdare's greatest quality was his endless curiosity, according to his elder son
For colleagues and students, the victory was not merely India's triumph but a lasting legacy of Prof Katdare's nearly three decades of dedication to nurturing young physicists at the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE), TIFR, Mankhurd.
Four days before his passing, Prof Katdare was seen discussing students' experimental scripts and offering final guidance at the HBCSE Physics Olympiad Laboratory. He continued his regular mentoring sessions, including on the afternoon of June 27, guiding India's five representatives - Kanishk Jain, Riddhesh Anant Bendale, Rishit Garg, Shresth Suraiya, and Svarit Joshi.
Members of the Olympiad community said the medals reflected years of Prof Katdare's efforts in identifying talent, preparing rigorous training modules, and developing scientific thinking among students representing India on the global stage.
According to Prof. Katdare's nephew, Dr Ameya Panchwagh, the physics teacher was parking his car on the campus premises on June 27 when bystanders noticed the vehicle suddenly losing course and entering a flower bed. "They rushed to the vehicle and found him unconscious inside," Dr Panchwagh said.
The 2018 batch of Vigyan Programme students attend a session by Prof Katdare at the HBCSE centre in Mankhurd
He was rushed by colleagues and students to the nearby BARC Hospital, where doctors found his vital signs unrecordable. A post-mortem examination at Rajawadi Hospital later provisionally attributed the cause of death to coronary artery disease.
Students remember Prof Katdare as a teacher who explained difficult physics concepts through simple examples from everyday life.
Colleagues recalled his constant search for better teaching methods rather than merely delivering lectures. He spent countless hours designing challenging problem papers, mentoring students individually, and training fellow teachers in effective classroom practices.
His younger son, Preshit Katdare, a pilot, recalled that his father never stopped working. "When I came home, I would either see him cooking, watching thriller, mystery or science-fiction movies, or preparing question papers for Olympiad students to make sure they were ready. He never sat idle," he said.
For many students, Prof Katdare's greatest lessons were not only about physics but about learning itself. His philosophy was simple: "No one can teach. We can only learn. At the most, we can help someone in learning. Try to become a facilitator and not a teacher or a guide," recalled Preshit.
His elder brother, Sanchit Katdare, settled in US, said his father's greatest quality was his endless curiosity. He said his father often spoke with wonder about technological changes he had witnessed - from seeing the first telephone and first car arrive in his village [Chiplun, Ratnagiri] to using globally connected wireless devices and travelling in a driverless autonomous car. "What made him different was that he always wanted to understand how everything worked," he said.
Prof Katdare was part of HBCSE's Physics Olympiad training programme for nearly 27 years. He contributed to the physics olympiad in terms of experimental development, assessment and student training at multiple levels. "Prof Katdare valued theory and experiment equally. His meticulous scrutiny of every question paper, answer sheet, model solution, and marking scheme was unmatched," said Shirish Pathare, scientific officer (F), HBCSE, TIFR.
Aniket Sule, associate professor, HBCSE and Physics Olympiad training coordinator, said the five-gold-medal performances in 2018 and again this year were a fitting tribute to Prof Katdare's invaluable contributions.
