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Dr. Antoine Suarez
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH)
Antoine Suarez is a Swiss quantum physicist, philosopher, and bioethicist. He received his Ph.D (1975) in Natural Sciences from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. He is Founding director of the Center for Quantum Philosophy (Zürich and Geneva), which is based on philosophical questions raised in the 1970’s and 1980’s by John Bell and academic leader of the Bioethics program of the Social Trends Institute (Barcelona, New York).
Suarez, inspired by discussions with Bell, proposed in 1997 the “before-before” experiment. He proposed to use moving measurement devices to test quantum entanglement and nonlocality (the EPR experiment) to see whether there is some ordering process behind the nonlocal correlations. His before-before experiment, carried out by the Nicolas Gisin Group (Quantum Optics Laboratory, University of Geneva),demonstrates that quantum effects (non-local correlations) come from outside space-time. [Physical Review Letters 88, 120204 (2002); Physical Review A, 67, 042115 (2003)]
He is editor or author of the following books: Is Science Compatible with Free Will? Exploring Free Will and Consciousness in the Light of Quantum Physics and Neuroscience, (Springer: New York, 2013) Is this Cell a Human Being? (Springer: Heidelberg, 2011), and Mathematical Undecidability, Quantum Nonlocality and the Question of the Existence of God, (Kluwer: Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 1997.)
Dr. Federico Faggin
Physicist, Inventor & Entrepreneur
Federico Faggin is a physicist, inventor, and entrepreneur. He is best known for developing the Intel 4004, the world’s first commercial microprocessor. Born in Vicenza, Italy, in 1941, he received his doctorate (Laurea) in physics from the University of Padua (1965). He began working at SGS Fairchild in Italy, where he developed their first MOS process technology and their first integrated circuits (ICS). In 1968, he moved to Palo Alto, California, to work at Fairchild Semiconductor, where he created a technology that made possible dynamic memories, non-volatile memories, image sensors, and the microprocessor. In 1970, he joined Intel, and is credited with designing the world’s first commercial microprocessor, the Intel 4004 in 1971.
He went on to invent dozens of other integrated circuits. Faggin started several successful high-tech companies such as Zilog, Cygnet Technologies, and Synaptics that introduced significant products and technologies. At Zilog, he conceived and architected the z80 microprocessor and directed its development. He was Zilog’s president and CEO until 1980. In 1986, he cofounded and was CEO of Synaptics, a company pioneering in touchpads and touchscreens. He later became president and CEO of Foveon Inc. Among the honour’s which Faggin received are – the Kyoto Prize (1997), the 2009 National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President Obama and the 2014 Enrico Fermi Prize. In short, Federico has been instrumental in shaping modern day technologies and our everyday life with devices.
Prof. A. K. Mukhopadhyay
Former Prof. AIIMS New Delhi
Prof. A. K. Mukhopadhyay, MBBS from University of Calcutta (1977), MD in Pathology from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (1981) joined as Faculty of AIIMS in 1985. Since 2006, he has been the Head of the Department of Laboratory Medicine at AIIMS, New Delhi.
Besides being a reputed laboratory physician and popular teacher in Laboratory Medicine, his special areas of expertise are neuro degenerative disorders like Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer disease, Vascular dementia and neuro psychiatric disorders like Depression and Stress, which have yielded several internationally recognized publications.
His abstract thinking, hypothesis-generation ability and several propositions connecting Consciousness and Mind with Molecular Medicine have made him internationally recognized in the field of Consciousness Study. He coined the term and concept of supracortical consciousness in 1985 and developed further this idea integrating Science, Humanity and Spirit. His keen desire to develop a Science for Consciousness has given birth to four worthy documents. (i) Frontiers of Research for Human Biologists (1985), (ii) The Dynamic Web of Supracortical Consciousness (1987), (iii) Conquering the Brain (1995) and (iv) The Millennium Bridge (2000). His theoretical research extends within Systems Science from signal to information and from Information to knowledge and wisdom. Systems Psyche and the hierarchically structured decision-making labyrinth of consciousness are his recent favorites (www.akmukhopadhyayconsciousness.com).
Prof. Sisir Roy
National Institute of Advanced Studies,
IISC Campus, Bangalore
Prof. Sisir Roy is visiting Professor and Senior Homi Bhabha Fellow at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, IISc, Bangalore. He obtained his PhD in theoretical physics from Indian Statistical Institute Kolkata in 1979. He has been a professor at the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata for 21 years and also a visiting professor at the University of Arkansa, USA and George Mason University, USA, and visiting scientist at Henri Poincare Institute, Paris.
His areas of research include Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, Brain Function modeling and Cognitive Science, Data Analysis, and Quasar Astronomy. To his repute he has more than 170 peer reviewed papers in internationally renowned journals, and 13 Research Monographs/Edited Volumes.
Prof. Dipankar Home
Department of Physics, Bose Institute Kolkata
Dipankar Home is an Indian theoretical physicist at Bose Institute, Kolkata. He works on the fundamental aspects of quantum mechanics, including quantum entanglement and Quantum communication. He is co-author with Partha Ghose of the popular book Riddles in your Teacup – Fun with Everyday Scientific Puzzles.
Dipankar’s research interests are in the following areas:
- Foundational issues of Quantum Mechanics like the Quantum Measurement Problem, Quantum Nonlocality, the Macroscopic limits of Validity of Quantum Mechanics, Time in Quantum Mechanics, and the Quantum Zeno effect.
- Nonstandard interpretations (such the Bohmian model) and the possibility of empirically discriminating them from the standard interpretation.
- Connecting various foundations aspects of Quantum mechanics with realizable experiments using Neutron/Electron/Atomic interferometry and the Quantum Optical methods.
- Fundamental features of Quantum Entanglement, including aspects of Quantum Information Transfer/Processing such as Quantum Cryptography and Quantum Teleportation.
- Applications of Quantum Entanglement and Quantum Informations in the cosmological scenario. Interplay between Black Hole Thermodynamics and Quantum Information.
Dr. Debashis Khan
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Varanasi (BHU)
Dr. Debashis Khan received his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur in 2007. Then he joined as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi and presently he is serving there as an Associate Professor. His research interests include analytical and computational methods in engineering and science, Solid Mechanics, Fracture Mechanics, Continuum Mechanics and Finite Deformation Plasticity. He was a visiting research scientist at University of North Texas, USA in the year 2013.
Also, in the year 2016, he was a visiting researcher at the Zernike Institute of Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, Netherlands. He has published 22 peer-reviewed papers in international journals of repute and many conference papers. He has guided Ph. D. students and presently guiding Ph.D. students. He has recently co-authored a popular book entitled “Mathematical Theory of Subdivision: Finite Elements and Wavelet Methods”. He is a member of ‘American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ and ‘Indian Society for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics’. He is a fellow of ‘The Institution of engineers (India)’. His interests also expand over mathematical formulation of evolutionary systems and their exploration in the origin of life which led him to work at the interface of science and spirituality in collaboration with Bhaktivedanta institute.
Prof. P. K. Singh
Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Varanasi (BHU)
Prof. P. K. Singh served as the Head of the Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi. He received his B.Sc in Civil Engineering in 1986 from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Aligarh and M.Sc in Environmental Engineering in 1988 from University of Roorkee (UOR), Roorkee. In the year 2000, he earned his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur. He worked as an Assistant Engineer for a period of seventeen years in the Water Resources Department, Government of Bihar till June, 2004.
After which he joined in Department of Civil Engineering, IT (BHU) Varanasi and currently serving as Professor & Head of the Department there. His major research areas include solid waste management, and water treatment. Prof P K Singh is having more than 40 publications at National and International level to his credit. He had been handling various research projects summing up to one crore rupees funded by Department of Science and Technology (DST), GOI; Ministry of Human Resource Development, GOI; National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) Nagpur from Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation etc.
Dr. B. D. Mundhra
Chairman - Emeritus, Simplex Infrastructures Ltd.
Dr. Bithal Das Mundhra is well-known in the industrial fraternity as the Chairman – Emeritus of Simplex Infrastructures Limited. Born in 1942, Dr. Mundhra started his construction career at the age of 19 at various construction sites of Simplex. He was inducted in the Board of Simplex in 1969 and became Managing Director in 1987. In recent past, Singhania University, Rajasthan conferred Dr. Mundhra with the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Honoris Causa) for his outstanding contribution to the field of Infrastructure & Construction Industry in India.
Dr. Mundhra has professional association with some notable institutions such as, Honorary Life Fellow of Institution of Engineers (India); Fellow Member of The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, UK; The Indian Concrete Institute; A Founder Member and Trustee of National Institute of Construction Management and Research (NICMAR), Pune; Member of Board of Governors of Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC) and also Member of Builders Association of India (BAI). Dr. Mundhra has also been selected as the First and Founding Chairman of United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).
Dr. B.D. Mundhra is a laureate of a number of many prestigious awards for his invaluable contributions to the industry. Some of the awards include: “Life Time Achievement Award” by BAI in 2008; “Vishwakarma Award” by CIDC in 2009; “World Leader Business Person 2010” by World Confederation of Business in 2010; “Hall of Fame” Infrastructures in 2012; “Life Time Achievement Award” in 2012 and Hony. Doctor of Literature in Oriental Language by Indian Institute of Oriental Heritage in 2014.
Besides engineering & construction, Dr. Mundhra’s deep understanding of the Indian culture has prompted him to be associated with various social & cultural associations as well as academic institutions, such as President of Bharatiya Samskriti Samsad & Nagarik Swasthya Sangh, Kolkata; Principal Trustee in Bharatiya Vidya Mandir; Trustee of Pt. Jasraj Music Academy and several other associations.
In addition to devoting time in pursuit of construction business, Dr. Mundhra has made considerable contribution to the fields of literature, modern science and classical music. Under his guidance, some of the eminent literatures have been published by Bharatiya Vidya Mandir namely, Indian Culture-Encyclopaedic Survey in Eight Volumns, Bharatiya Chitrakala, Bharatiya Murtikala, Rosary of Hymns; Selected poems of Surdas, Kamayani and various other topics. He has also published and is advisory editor of research oriented Hindi bi-Monthly magazine “Vaichariki“. Dr. B D Mundhra, a philanthropist, is actively involved with various welfare activities.
Prof. Manoranjan Sinha
Department of Aerospace Engineering., IIT Kharagpur
Dr. Manoranjan Sinha is a Professor at IIT Kharagpur in the Department of Aerospace Engineering. Dr. Sinha received his B.Tech degree from IIT Delhi in 1993 and subsequently received M. Tech and Ph.D. degrees in aerospace engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India, in 2001. In the following years he worked as Post Doctoral Fellow in the area of neural networks at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada under the supervision of Prof. Madan M. Gupta, and as an Assistant Professor at Birla Institute of Technology, Pilani and IIT Mumbai Dept. of Aerospace Engineering.
He joined the Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Kharagpur in 2004. His research fields are neural networks, system identification, controls, flight dynamics, system health monitoring, vibration control, attitude dynamics, and formation flying. He is involved with the lunar satellite orbit determination, lunar gravity and topography modeling for chandrayan Mission – I of ISRO. He is also working on reconfigurable flight control. He is also interested in integrative cosmology from Scientific and Vedantic perspectives.
Prof. Ramgopal Uppaluri
IIT Guwahati
Prof. Ramagopal Uppaluri obtained B.Tech. (Chemical Engineering) from Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, M.Tech. (Chemical Engineering) from IIT Kanpur and Ph.D. (Process Integration) from University of Manchester, England. After a brief post-doctoral research at Robert Gordon University, Scotland, he joined IIT Guwahati and became the youngest Professor of IIT Guwahati in a very short span of time. He has diversified research profile in areas of chemical engineering, petroleum science and technology, computational mathematics
and food science and technology. He has published 115 international journal publications and has filed three Indian patents in the fields of surfactant enhanced oil recovery and palladium composite membranes. For about two decades, Prof. Uppaluri served in various capacities to assist and promote the activities of the Bhaktivedanta Institute, Kolkata. He received training and guidance from Dr. T. D. Singh to imbibe holistic aptitude towards the synthesis of science, philosophy and spirituality. He served the organization of the AISSQ conference series in several capacities as well as contributed several articles ranging from wider topics such as time dimension, origin of life, death, embryology and consciousness, consciousness studies etc. He has been instrumental in evolving Diploma and Certificate Courses in Science-Spirituality. Presently, he is serving as the Honorary Director of the Department of Education of the Bhaktivedanta Institute, Kolkata.
K. Vasudeva Rao
President, Bhaktivedanta Institute Kolkata
Vasudeva Rao (also known as His Holiness Bhaktisvarupa Vrajapati Swami) is an alumnus of the prestigious IIT Kanpur (Computer Science, 1998), and is currently the President of the Bhaktivedanta Institute. He is one of the major contributors to Bhaktivedanta Institute’s publications, and also the Editor of Bhaktivedanta Institute’s reputed journal, Savijnanam – Scientific Exploration for a Spiritual Paradigm. He travels widely across India and abroad creating awareness regarding the interface of Science and Spirituality among academic and professional circles.
His deep interest in the foundations of mathematics, the fundamentals of computer science and logic, and its relation to the nature of consciousness, nature of reality as well as ancient Indian texts has led him to meet and interact with renowned scholars at Harvard, Princeton, Stanford and MIT. He has delivered numerous talks on computer science and spirituality. Under his able guidance and supervision, more than 10 national conferences, 2 International conferences, and over 100 seminars and workshops on science and spirituality have been organized by the Institute in the past decade, which includes contributions from more than 20 Nobel Laureates and world-renowned scholars; In addition, over 200 papers have been published by the Bhaktivedanta Institute. He was a former Global Council Trustee of the United Religions Initiative.
Prof. Dipak Ghosh
Jadavpur University
Prof. Dipak Ghosh, a University Gold medalist and a PhD in the area of High Energy Physics, published more than four hundred papers in international journals across the world. He was the Professor and Dean of the faculty of Science, Jadavpur University. He supervised the PhD thesis of 75 students and still continuing in doing so. From 2004, he started to work in the area of physics and music and established the Sir C V Raman Centre for Physics and Music, Jadavpur University. He worked as the coordinator of the Centre till his retirement in 2010. In this connection he has published more than hundred papers on music information retrieval and clinical psychology.
Presently he is the Emeritus Professor at the Centre. His area interest for the last three years is to study the effect of music on human brain from the neuro-physics perspective and related consciousness studies. Prof. Ghosh is the recipient of many awards including Sir C.V. Raman Award by U.G.C, Govt. of India for his in-depth research work in various disciplines.
Dr. Hare Krishna Mohanta
Department of Chemical Engineering, BITS Pilani
Dr. Hare Krishna Mohanta is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering in BITS Pilani, Rajasthan. He has been teaching in BITS Pilani since 1998. He worked in Indian Rare Earths Ltd (A Govt of India Undertaking) during 1995-1996. He obtained his B.E. (Chemical Engineering) in 1995 from NIT Rourkela, M.Tech (Chemical Engineering) in 1998 from IIT Kanpur, and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in 2006 from BITS Pilani.
He is a Life Associate Member of Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers(IIChE). He has several publications in international and national journals. His areas of research include Advanced Process Control, Process Monitoring and Control, Sensors and Microreactors, Catalysis and Pyrolysis, Applied Wavelet Analysis, Reactive Distillation, Modeling and Simulation and Consciousness Studies.
Varun Agarwal
Director, Bhaktivedanta Institute Kolkata
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. His research interests include the foundations of science and its possible connections with 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.
Sushant Sharma
Alumnus, IIT Guwahati
Sushant Sharma is a B. Tech. graduate (2000) from IIT Guwahati. He has contributed enormously towards various activities of the Bhaktivedanta Institute as an author and an editor. He was last associated with Tech Mahindra Limited as Tech Leader and has an IT experience of over 15 years. Later, Sushant Sharma decided to dedicate himself to the mission of Bhaktivedanta Institute and has been engaging himself to study the science of consciousness from a scientific as well as spiritual perspective.
Under the able guidance of science-spirituality synthesis visionary Dr. T. D. Singh, he has delivered a key note lecture at the International Conference on Life and its Origin at Rome in 2004. From 2007, Sushant has been a speaker in many science-spirituality conferences and workshopsorganized by the Bhaktivedanta Institute including the AISSQ conference series. His conference lecture themes include “Man and Machine”, “Computer and Intelligence” and “Inimitable Intelligence”.