Inauguration Program

The world's first, full-fledged M.S./Ph.D. program in consciousness studies was formally inaugurated on January 14, 1997 in Bombay by Prof. Charles Townes, co-inventor of LASER and 1964 Nobel-Laureate in Physics.

The graduate program in consciousness studies is being offered by the Bhaktivedanta Institute in collaboration with the Birla Insitute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Rajasthan, one of India's top technical schools.

As part of the inaugural function, a panel discussion on the topic Science in the 21st Century was organized in which besides Prof. Townes, five other scientists from different fields participated. The other panelists were:

Dr. Gregory Benford, Astrophysicist, University of California, Irvine, USA
Dr. P.V.S. Rao, Prof. of Artificial Intelligence, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bombay
Dr. Joe Kamiya, Former Prof. of Psychology, University of California Medical School, San Francisco
Dr. T.D. Singh, Physical and Organic Chemistry, The Bhaktivedanta Institute, Bombay
Dr. Ravi V. Gomatam, Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, The Bhaktivedanta Institute, Berkeley
Prof. Edward Mackinnon, (Retd.) Dept. of Philosophy, Cal State, Hayward, USA

Dr. S. Venkateswaran, Director, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, chaired the session and conducted the proceedings.

Panel discussion on "Science in the 21st Century"

Seated left to right: Dr. Gregory Benford, Prof. Edward MacKinnon, Dr. T.D. Singh, Dr. S. Venkateswaran, Prof. Charles Townes, Dr. P.V.S. Rao, Dr. Joe Kamiya, Dr. R. Gomatam

The 400-plus auditorium at the Bhaktivedanta Institute campus was filled to capacity with students and researchers from the universities in Bombay as well as the two well-known local research institutions, the Bhabha Atomic Research Center and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.