Varadaraja V. Raman

Text from the United States Congressional Record quoting Varadaraja V. Raman.

Raman was born to a Brahmin Tamil family residing in Bengal. He did his undergraduate work in physics, with a first postgraduate degree in mathematics. He did his doctoral studies in theoretical physics at the Sorbonne in Paris, in French under Nobel laureate Louis de Broglie.[2][4] The focus was the mathematical underpinning of quantum mechanics.[2] He served the UNESCO for several years, "living in many nations as an educational expert for the United Nations."[5] Eventually, Raman emigrated from Calcutta in 1966,[6] and joined the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York as a professor of Physics and Humanities.[2] He would then spend many years as chairman of the RIT Physics Department.

By 1983, Raman had become an occasional guest columnist for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.[7][8][9][10] In 1991, Raman served on a panel to "investigate possible CIA influences on academic programs",[11] and determine whether RIT should cut ties with the American Central Intelligence Agency.[12] He was elected the 2004–2005 Metanexus Institute 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.[13] In 2006, Raman received the Raja Rao Award for Literature, given for "outstanding contributions to the literature and culture of the South Asian Diaspora".[14][2]

Raman circa 1985

Robert M. Geraci, chair of religious studies at Manhattan University, describes Raman as "well-known in American conversations about religion and science",[32] and "the leading voice in this problematic approach to Hinduism and science—who should nevertheless be commended for his work in bringing such conversations to the fore of academic inquiry", and states that Raman "represents the community seeking harmony between Hinduism and science."[33] Elsewhere, Geraci observes that Raman "maintains a tenuous balance between credulity and skepticism."[32] Though Raman has written in defense of the proposition that religions should accept the truth of evolution by natural selection,[10] philosopher C. Mackenzie Brown has criticized Raman's approach, noting that Raman has written that certain scientific truths "can also be apprehended through the mystical mode via meditation, prayer, or yogic exercises", and grouping Raman with Subhash Kak and Gopala Rao as "scientists [who] employ their expertise to confirm teachings of the sadhus and, not infrequently, to deplore the naturalistic theory of Darwinian evolution."[34] Brown concludes that for Raman, "the urge to lyricize and scientize tradition is clearly irresistible".[34]

Yiftach Fehige, prefacing an anthology featuring Raman's writing, similarly critiques Raman's approach to Western religions, describing Raman as positioning himself "in opposition to fundamental principles and insights that characterize the field of science and religion" as outlined previously in the book.[35] Fehige notes as well that Raman discounts the ability of Christianity to have been a force behind the development of modern science.[36] Numen's review of the piece finds that Raman "embraces generalizations, willfully brackets (i.e., ignores) local contingencies, and defines both science and religion as essential human phenomena," and "distinguishes "ancient" from "modern" science in normative epistemological terms, showing little interest in historical categorizations or even chronology," but that "despite its many flaws, one commendable outcome of Raman's argument is its disentanglement of "science" and scientific conduct from the clutches of theological biases that see it as intrinsically linked to European Christendom."[37]

Another text noted that Raman responded to Wendy Doniger's criticism of the Bhagavad Gita as a text promoting war by imploring "bookish academics" to show sensitivity to the sacredness accorded the text.[38] Krista Tippett says "V.V. Raman describes... how Hinduism's overarching regard for beauty and the arts has helped to avoid a point-counterpoint between the different forms of knowledge that science and religion convey."[39]

Robert M. Geraci identified Raman as "the most prolific author on Hinduism and science".[40] Raman has published a large number of books and articles, some through traditional publishing companies and others through self-publication venues.

The Tamil language is Raman's mother tongue.[45] One source notes that Raman has a "long-running interest in questions of science and religion",[46] and another that he "meditates each morning on symbols of numbers, music, and science, describing this as an aesthetic experience."[47] In Ira Flatow's book, Present at the Future, Raman describes considering himself to be "as much a physicist as one devoted to the other dimension of human life, mainly the spiritual".[48] Raman has two children, a son and a daughter, Indira,[49] a neurobiologist[50] and director of the Northwestern University Interdepartmental Neurosciences (NUIN) PhD Program.[51]

• Religious Naturalist
• Raman Commentaries – Various Views On Religion and Science
• Essays of V V Raman
• RIT Lecture Addresses Science and Religion in Today's World April 17
• HINDUISM AND SCIENCE: SOME REFLECTIONS
• Reflections of Varadaraja (V. V.) Raman, On Becoming 80
• V.V. Raman – My Ten Principles of Religious Naturalism
• A Religious Naturalist Invocation
• Closer to Truth series profile of Varadaraja V. Raman
• Varadaraja V. Raman at IMDb