Thalappil Pradeep is an Indian chemist and Institute Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), where he holds the Deepak Parekh Institute Chair Professorship. His research focuses on molecular materials and surfaces, including nanomaterials, atomically precise metal nanoclusters, microdroplets and ice. His research also extends to ion-surface collisons and chemistry of molecular solids such as water ice. Pradeep is known for developing scalable and sustainable materials-based solutions for drinking-water purification that have enabled access to safe water in regions affected by heavy metals and pesticides. He has received the ENI award (Advanced Environmental Solutions, 2023), the VinFuture Prize (Special Prize for Innovators from Developing Countries, 2022), and the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water (Creativity Prize, 2022). In 2020 he received the Nikkei Asia Prize (Science and Technology) and the Padma Shri, one of India’s highest civilian honours. He was awarded the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar (Vigyan Shri) in 2025.
Early life and education Pradeep was born on 8 July 1963, at Panthavoor, Kerala, India, to the late T. Narayanan Nair of the Thalappil house and P. P. Kunjilakshmi Amma of the Pulakkat Panampattavalappil house. Both his parents were school teachers. His father was a writer too, with the pen name N. N. Thalappil, who authored 14 books in Malayalam. Pradeep was educated in government schools all through. From 5th to 10th, he was educated at the Govt. High School, Mookkuthala where his father taught Malayalam and mother taught social studies. The school was built by Padma Shri Pakaravoor Chitran Namboothiripad, who donated it to the Government at a token price of ₹ 1. Most of the days he walked the 4 km trip to the school, as most of his classmates. Later, he was educated at the MES College, Ponnani for his Pre Degree, St. Thomas College, Thrissur for his BSc and Farook College, Kozhikode for his M.Sc., all under Calicut University. He completed his BSc between 1980 and 1983 and his M.Sc. between 1983 and 1985. Between his M.Sc. and doctoral studies he briefly worked as a technical officer at the Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (1986).
Academic career Pradeep earned a PhD degree in chemical physics working with Professors C. N. R. Rao and M. S. Hegde at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore during 1986–91. He subsequently held a research associate position (1991) and a scientific officer position (1991–1992) at IISc Bangalore. After completing his doctoral studies, he held research positions at the University of California, Berkeley and Purdue University, Indiana, (postdoctoral fellowships, 1992–93 and 1993 respectively), and joined the faculty of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, in 1993. He joined initially as a Visiting Faculty (December 1993), became an Assistant Professor (1995), an Associate Professor (2000), and a Professor (2004). He became an Institute Professor in 2015, the highest academic distinction at IIT Madras. He was subsequently named Institute Chair Professor (2016) and Deepak Parekh Institute Chair Professor (2017), and has held a J. C. Bose National Fellowship since 2015. At IIT Madras, he has built a research program around nanomaterials, molecular surfaces, and environmental technologies. He has also been associated with initiatives aimed at translating advanced materials research for societal applications, particularly in the area of safe drinking water. He held visiting positions at Purdue University, Leiden University, Netherlands, EPFL, Switzerland, Institute of Chemistry, Taiwan, Pohang University of Science and Technology, South Korea and University of Hyogo, Japan. He was also a visiting scientist at the Institute for Molecular Science, Okazaki, Japan (2006); a Fulbright Scholar at Purdue University (1998); Distinguished Visiting Professor at the PSG Institute of Advanced Studies, Coimbatore (since 2013); and Visiting Professor at Manipal University (since 2018). He is a Royal Society Wolfson Visiting Fellow at The University of Manchester currently. He also holds a Hovde Distinguished Visting Professor position at Purdue University.
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