Richard Leslie Thompson, also known as Sadaputa Dasa[2] (
IAST: Sadāpūta Dāsa; February 4, 1947 – September 18, 2008), was an American mathematician,[3][4] author and
Gaudiya Vaishnava religious figure. Historian
Meera Nanda described him as a driving intellectual force of '
Vedic creationism' as co-author (with
Michael Cremo) of Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race (1993), a work that has attracted significant criticism from the scientific community.[5][6] Thompson also published several books and articles on the
relationship between religion and science,
Hindu cosmology and
astronomy. He was a member of the
International Society for Krishna Consciousness (popularly known as the Hare Krishna movement or ISKCON) and a founding member of the Bhaktivedanta Institute, the branch of ISKCON dedicated to examining the relationship of modern scientific theories to the
Vaishnava worldview.[1] In the
'science and religion' community he was known for his articulation of ISKCON's view of science.[2] Danish historian of religion
Mikael Rothstein described Thompson as "the single dominating writer on science" in ISKCON whom ISKCON has chosen to "cover the field of science more or less on his own".[7] C. Mackenzie Brown, professor of religion at
Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas, described him as "the leading figure" in ISKCON's critique of modern science.[1]
Biography
Richard L. Thompson was born in
Binghamton, New York, in 1947.[8] In 1974 he received a
Ph.D. in mathematics from
Cornell University.[1] In the same year he formally became a member of ISKCON, receiving
spiritual initiation from ISKCON's founder,
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, and adopting the spiritual name Sadaputa Dasa.[1] Thompson carried out research in the fields of
statistical mechanics,
probability theory, and
mathematical biology.[1] He published scholarly articles in refereed journals and series, such as Journal of the International Association for Mathematical Geology, Remote Sensing of Environment, Biosystems, and International Review of Cytology.[1] In 1976 he became a founding member of the Bhaktivedanta Institute, the scientific branch of ISKCON dedicated to examining the relationship of modern scientific theories to Swami Prabhupada’s
Vaishnava worldview.[1] Soon after joining ISKCON, Thompson became "ISKCON's dominating figure in science" and "established himself as the leading figure in the movement's critique of modern science in the light of
Vedic spiritual (or 'higher-dimensional') science."[1] He formulated ISKCON's view on the concept of "higher-dimensional science" and wrote extensively on scientific subjects from this perspective.[2][9] In support of ISKCON's theology, he made research and analysis of the relation between the Vaishnava theological worldview and modern science.[10]
Thompson died of a heart attack on September 18, 2008.
[11]
The coauthor Michael Cremo writes in the Preface to the first edition that the work's central claim, that anomalous paleontological evidence dating in many hundreds of thousands of years, with examples such as the
Laetoli footprints (generally considered by paleontologists to have been made by bipedal hominins) potentially stretching possibilities toward the low millions, suggests that modern human beings "perhaps ... coexisted with more apelike creatures." It also contends that the scientific establishment, influenced by
confirmation bias, has suppressed fossil evidence of extreme human antiquity. These arguments has been criticized by mainstream scholars from a variety of disciplines.[12]
Selected bibliography
Books
Thompson, Richard L. (1974). Equilibrium States of Thin Energy Shells. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society.
ISBN978-0-8218-1850-3.
Thompson, Richard L. (1981). Mechanistic and Nonmechanistic Science: An Investigation Into the Nature of Consciousness and Form. Lynbrook, NY: Bala Books.
ISBN978-0-89647-014-9.
Goel, Narendra S.; Thompson, Richard L. (1988). Computer Simulations of Self-Organizations in Biological Systems. London: Croom Helm.
ISBN978-0-02-947922-3.
Thompson, Richard L. (1989). Vedic Cosmography and Astronomy. Los Angeles: Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.
ISBN978-0892132690.
Cremo, Michael A.; Thompson, Richard L. (1993). Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race. San Diego: Bhaktivedanta Institute.
ISBN978-0-9635309-8-1.
Thompson, Richard L. (1995). Alien Identities: Ancient Insights into Modern UFO Phenomena, 2nd Edition. Alachua, FL: Govardhan Hill Publishing.
ISBN978-0-9635309-4-3.
Thompson, Richard L. (2003). Maya: The World as Virtual Reality. Alachua, FL: Govardhan Hill Publishing.
ISBN978-0-9635309-0-5.
Thompson, Richard L. (2006). The Cosmology of the Bhagavata Purana: Mysteries of the Sacred Universe. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
ISBN978-8120819191.
Thompson, Richard L. (2007). God and Science: Divine Causation and the Laws of Nature. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
ISBN978-81-208-3254-1.
Thompson, Richard (1984). "A Stochastic Model of Sedimentation". Journal of the International Association for Mathematical Geology. 16 (8): 753–778.
doi:
10.1007/bf01036703.
S2CID122598216.
^Bakar, Osman (2003), "The Nature and Extent of Criticism of Evolutionary Theory", in Zarandi, Merhdad M. (ed.), Science and the Myth of Progress, Bloomington, Indiana: World Wisdom, p. 161,
ISBN978-0-941532-47-1. Readable online at
Worldwisdom.com
^А. С. Тимощук (2008).
"Р. Томпсон – нестатистический махатма (1947–2008)". In А. С. Тимощук (ed.). Махабхарата, Бхагават-гита и неклассическая рациональность: материалы III Международной научно-теоретической конференции (in Russian). Владимир: Издательство Владимирского государственного университета. pp. 141–144.
ISBN978-5-89368-918-1.
Wodak, J. and Oldroyd, D. (1996) ‘Vedic creationism’: a further twist to the evolution debate. Social Studies of Science, 26: 192–213 (quoted passages, p. 196, 206-207)