Course Instructors
Prof. N. C. Wickramasinghe
University of Buckingham, UK
Prof. Chandra Wickramasinghe is a Professor and Director of the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology at the University of Buckingham, UK. He is a Sri Lankan-born British mathematician, astronomer and astrobiologist. He obtained his Ph.D. in mathematics from Cambridge University in 1963. His research interests include the interstellar medium, infrared astronomy, light scattering theory, applications of solid-state physics to astronomy, the early Solar system, comets, astrochemistry, the origin of life and astrobiology.
He was a student and collaborator of world-renowned scientist Fred Hoyle, the pair jointly worked for over 40 years as influential proponents of panspermia (life exists throughout the universe). In 1974 they proposed that some dust in interstellar space was largely organic. He is an award-winning poet and the author or co-author of over 30 books and over 350 scientific papers in internationally renowned journals. In 1992 he was honored by the President of Sri Lanka with the titular honor of Vidya Jyothi. He was awarded the International Sahabdeen Prize for Science in 1996.
Prof. James M Tour
Rice University, USA
Prof. James Tour is a T. T. and W. F. Chao Professor of Chemistry at Rice University, USA. He obtained his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Purdue University and then pursued postdoctoral research at the University of Wisconsin and Stanford University. His research interests include carbon materials chemistry, Molecular electronics, synthetic organic chemistry and nanotechnology. He is a highly cited researcher with over 715 research publications in internationally renowned journals and over 140 patent families, with an h-index of 150. He is also well known for his chemical perspectives on the molecules needed for life.
He also received several international recognitions, to mention a few, Royal Society of Chemistry’s Centenary Prize for innovation in materials chemistry, Trotter Prize, Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology, the NASA Space Act Award and many other. Prof. Tour was ranked one of the Top 10 chemists in the world over the past decade.
Dr. Shashi Kotagiri
MD Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas, USA
Dr. Shashi Kumar Kotagiri obtained his master’s in genetics from Osmania University. With a fellowship from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), he pursued his doctoral study (PhD) at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, one of the most premier research organizations in frontier areas of modern biology in India. At CCMB, he worked on chronic myeloid leukemia and skeletal muscle differentiation.
After obtaining his Ph.D. degree, he received the Department of Science and Technology (DST)- National Postdoctoral fellowship to work as a postdoctoral fellow in the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) on developing therapeutics for diabetes. Currently, he is working as a postdoctoral fellow at the prestigious MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston. He is exploring non-small cell lung cancer pathogenesis to discover therapeutics.
Mr. Varun Agarwal
Alumnus IIT Kanpur
Director of the Bhaktivedanta Institute, Kolkata, India
Varun Agarwal (also known as His Holiness Bhaktisvarupa Vrajendra Kumar Swami) is an alumnus of IIT Kanpur(Aerospace Engg – 1999) and is currently the Director of the Bhaktivedanta Institute, Kolkata. He was a recipient of IIT Kanpur Director’s Gold Medal in 1999 for his excellence undergraduate academic record. His research interests include the foundations of science and its possible connectionswith spirituality. His search for a deeper meaning of life culminated in meeting and taking personal guidance from Dr. T. D. Singh, which completely changed his life, after which he dedicated himself to the cause of selflessly helping humanity.
He is the Editor of many publications on science and spirituality, including Bhaktivedanta Institute’s reputed science-spirituality journal, Savijnanam – Scientific Exploration for a Spiritual Paradigm. His deep interest in the foundations of mathematics and the nature of consciousness and its relation to the nature of reality as well as ancient Indian texts has led him to interact and meet with renowned scholars at Harvard, Princeton, ETH, Stanford and MIT. He has delivered numerous talks worldwide on the foundations of science, as well as the foundations of life, mathematics and spirituality.