Professor Shrinivas Kulkarni, a distinguished astronomer at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), has been honored with the Royal Astronomical Society's (RAS) 2026 Gold Medal in Astronomy, the society's highest accolade. The award, announced on January 9, 2026, recognizes Kulkarni's 'sustained, innovative and ground-breaking contributions to multi-wavelength transient astrophysics' and his 'field-defining' discoveries. His illustrious career, spanning over four decades, includes a series of landmark achievements that have fundamentally reshaped modern astronomy. Notably, in 1982, while still a graduate student, Kulkarni co-discovered the first millisecond pulsar, a rapidly spinning neutron star. Later, in 1995, he and his team identified the first brown dwarf, a celestial object cooler and smaller than stars. Further significant work includes demonstrating in 1997 that powerful gamma-ray bursts originate outside our galaxy and, in 2020, helping to detect the first fast radio burst within our own Milky Way. Beyond these individual discoveries, Professor Kulkarni also played a pivotal role in developing critical observational instruments. He led the creation of the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) and its successor, the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), which continuously monitor the night sky for short-lived and dynamic cosmic events, revolutionizing time-domain astrophysics at optical wavelengths. Kulkarni, who was born in Maharashtra, India, and received his master's degree from IIT Delhi, is also a member of the Indian Academy of Sciences, highlighting his significant ties to India. This global recognition underscores the international impact of his scientific endeavors and his profound influence on our understanding of the evolving universe.