Prof. Kulinder Pal Singh (born 1952), obtained his Pre-engineering (University Gold Medal) and BSc Honors in Physics (University Gold Medal) from Punjabi University, Patiala, MSc Physics in 1973 from IIT-Delhi, and PhD Physics (1981) degree from Bombay University. He joined Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai in 1973 as a Visiting Member, and retired as a Senior Professor in 2017. He has worked at Penn State University, Danish Space Research Institute, Lab for High Energy Astrophysics, GSFC (NASA), Centre for Astrophysics, Harvard-Smithsonian Observatory, Cambridge, Department of Physics, Nagoya University, and ISAS, Tokyo, Japan. He joined IISER Mohali in 2017 and is currently INSA senior scientist. He does research in observational and experimental X-ray Astronomy. He has been involved with ISRO since 1975 making and flying rocket-borne payloads for studying X-rays from stars and galaxies in the Universe. He has more than 200 publications in peer-reviewed international journals (Kulinder Pal Singh-google scholar)

He designed, fabricated, tested and operationalized India’s first Soft X-ray focusing telescope based on grazing incidence, built in TIFR. The telescope launched on September 28, 2015 by ISRO aboard India’s first space observatory, AstroSat, is working non-stop for ~10 years, providing a wealth of data to observers from India and abroad. He teaches and mentors students at IISER, Mohali. He is a member of the experts committee of ISRO for the Space Science Roadmap Formulation. He served on Editorial Board of Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy, and is currently an editor for the Current Science. He was member of the Board of Management of NCRA and the NBF, Academic Council of IUCAA, and Board of Management of SLIET, Punjab. As the founding secretary of the TIFR Alumni Association, he started its newsletter, website and designed its logo. He is a life member of the International Astronomical Union and the Astronomical Society of India.