Varadaraja V. Raman

Varadaraja V. Raman (born May 28, 1932) is Emeritus Professor of Physics and Humanities at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He has lectured and written Indian heritage and culture and authored numerous books, book reviews and articles on science and religion. In 2005 he was elected Senior Fellow of the Metanexus Institute. In 2006 he was the recipient of the Raja Rao Award which recognizes writers who have made an outstanding contributions to the literature of the South Asian Diaspora.^[1]

On May 18, 2007, Navya Shastra, a reformist Hindu organization, conferred on him the title Acharya Vidyasagar in recognition of his contributions to Hinduism.^[2]

He has guided our endeavors as an advisor and friend. His sagacious interpretations of Hindu culture are profoundly attuned to a timeless spiritual sensibility. At the same time, he unapologetically rejects outmoded practices that have no place in the modern world (…) In ancient India , a man like Professor Raman was called an acharya, a teacher of profound truths, a guide on the spiaritual path, and someone an entire community looked up to. We at Navya Shastra are honored to proclaim Professor Raman – Acharya Vidyasagar- an embodiment of the ocean of wisdom.

Biography

Raman was born to a Tamil family which had settled down in Bengal. His undergraduate work was in physics, and his first postgraduate degree was in mathematics, all at the University of Calcutta. His doctoral work at the University of Paris, carried out in the medium of the French language under the supervision of the Nobel laureate Louis de Broglie, was in theoretical physics, specifically on the mathematical underpinning of quantum mechanics.

He served the UNESCO for a few years, during which time he became more interested in the history and philosophy of science. Eventually, he settled down at the Rochester Institute of Technology in the USA as a professor of Physics and Humanities.

He went on to publish extensively on the historical, philosophical, and social aspects of science. His scholarly papers on those matters have been on the history of thermodynamics, the origins of physical chemistry, the genesis of the Schrödinger equation, the early reactions to Einstein's theory of relativity, the impact of the Copernican revolution, and on the Euler-D'Alembert controversy in 18th century mathematical physics. He has also written on such topics as the history of the theory of gravitation, of the energy conservation principle, and of acoustics.

In 1988, he was nominated by his university's president, and was a recipient of the Outstanding Educator award, presented in Washington D.C. by the American Association of Higher Education.

In the early 1980s he initiated a journal called INDHER (Indian Heritage) to educate children of Indian origin living beyond the shores of India on aspects of their culture and heritage. Out of the articles in this journal grew two books: "Glimpses of Indian Heritage," and "Satanama: Hundred Names from India's Past," both published by Popular Prakashan in India. He gave a series of lectures on Verses from the Bhagavad Gita of relevance to the Modern World, which were published later as "Nuggets from the Gita" by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. He wrote a series of articles on Indian perspectives for India Abroad which are the basis of his "Reflections from Alien Shores," also a Bhavan's Book.

Raman has been a member of the Calcutta Mathematical Society, American Physical Society, American Association of Physics Teachers, Philosophy of Science Association and History of Science Society. He has served as the President of various cultural/social organizations including The Interfaith Forum of Rochester, The India Community Center of Rochester, The Bengali Association of Rochester, the Rochester Tamil Sangam which he founded, the Martin Luther King Commission of Rochester. He was elected the 2004-2005 Metanexus Fellow on Science and Religion, in which capacity he delivered six lectures at the Hillel Hall of the University of Pennsylvania on Indic Visions in an Age of Science.^[3]

Organizational affiliations

• Editorial Board of Zygon.
• Editorial Board of Theology and Science.
• Board of Metanexus Institute also elected Senior Fellow
• Served in the Editorial Board of The Physics Teacher.
• Served in the Executive Committee of, and chaired The Interfaith Forum of Rochester.
• Elected to ISSR (International Society for Science and Religion), Cambridge.
• Elected Institute Fellow of Rochester Institute of Technology.
• Council Member of Institute on Religion in an Age of Science, Chairman 2012 and 2013

Major publications

Blog - V. V. RAMAN’S SPURTS OF THOUGHT

Books -

• 2011 - Indic Visions: In an Age of Science, Xlibris Corp., August 26, ISBN 146288363X
• 2009 - Truth and Tension in Science and Religion, Beech River Books, May, ISBN 0-9793778-6-2
• 2005 - Variety in Religion and Science: Daily Reflections, iUniverse, Inc., June 27, ISBN 0-595-35840-3
• 2000 - Glimpses of Ancient Science and Scientists, Xlibris Corporation, March 16, ISBN 0-7388-1362-1
• 1998 - Balakanda; Ramayana as Literature and Cultural History, Popular Prakashan Ltd , Bombay, December 1, ISBN 81-7154-746-X
• 1997 - Nuggets from the Gita, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay,
• 1990 - Santama: One Hundred Great Names from India's Past, Sangam Bks., April 11, ISBN 0-86132-251-7
• 1989 - Glimpses of Indian Heritage, Popular Prakashan, January, ISBN 0-86132-181-2
• 1984 - Reflections on science as an enterprise: A collection of papers, Rochester Institute of Technology, ASIN B000726IHA

Texts and manuals

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Varadaraja V. Raman

• Naturalist
• Raman Commentaries - Various Views On Religion and Science
• Essays of V V Raman
• Science and Religion in Today's World