Sadaputa Dasa (Richard L. Thompson) was born in Binghamton, New York, in 1947. He was a disciple of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and a founding member of the Bhaktivedanta Institute. He passed away on September 18.
In 1974, he received his Ph.D. in mathematics from Cornell University, where he specialized in probability theory and statistical mechanics. He went on to do research in quantum physics and mathematical biology at the State University of New York at Binghamton, Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, and the La Jolla Institute in San Diego.
Sadaputa Dasa wrote eight books, produced six videos on science and philosophy, and wrote many articles for scientific journals and forBack to Godhead. His last book was titled God & Science: Divine Causation and the Laws of Nature. His previous book Maya: The World As Virtual Reality explains how this world can be considered a virtual reality. His explanation accommodates empirical evidence for many phenomena that contemporary theories of consciousness cannot explain. Another book, Mysteries of the Sacred Universe, discusses evidence of advanced astronomical knowledge in India’s ancient Puranas.
Sadaputa Dasa also designed exhibits using computer animation and multimedia techniques to present the Vedic cosmology and worldview.