Mani Lal Bhaumik

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Mani Bhaumik is an Indian-born American scientist. He has been a physicist, author, lecturer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.

His early contributions to laser technology are exemplified by the development of the excimer laser at the Northrop Corporation Research and Technology Center in Los Angeles. As team leader, Dr. Bhaumik announced the successful demonstration of the world's first efficient excimer laser at the Denver, Colorado meeting of the Optical Society of America in May 1973. Subsequently, it found extensive use as the type of laser that made possible the immensely popular Lasik corrective eye surgery, eliminating the need for glasses or contact lenses in many cases. In recognition of his pioneering research in high energy lasers and new laser systems, Dr. Bhaumik has been elected by his peers to fellowships in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers as well as of the American Physical Society.

Dr. Bhaumik's current interest is in sharing with the public the advances in quantum physics and cosmology and their implications for both material and spiritual development.

==Biography== Bhaumik was born in a small village in Tamluk, Medinipore, West Bengal India, and thrust into the vortex of the struggle for Indian independence. Education provided him a way out of poverty. He walked four miles barefoot to the nearest school, and endured famine, flood, and armed threat. As an impressionable teenager, He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Scottish Church College and an M. Sc. from the University of Calcutta. He won the attention of Satyendra Nath Bose (co-creator of the Bose-Einstein Statistics) who encouraged his prodigious curiosity. Bhaumik earned a Ph.D in Physics from the IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) at Kharagpur. His thesis was on Resonant Electronic Energy Transfers, a subject he would have cause to use in his work with lasers.

==Professional career== Receiving a Sloan Foundation Fellowship in 1959, Dr. Bhaumik came to the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) for post doctoral studies. In 1961, he joined the Quantum Electronics Division at Xerox Electro-Optical Systems in Pasadena and began his career as a laser scientist. Concurrently, he taught Quantum physics and Astronomy at the California State University at Long Beach. In 1968, he was enlisted by the Northrop Corporate Research Laboratory, where he rose to become the director of the Laser Technology Laboratory and led the team responsible for the development of the excimer laser technology. Dr. Bhaumik announced the successful demonstration of the world's first efficient excimer laser at the Denver, Colorado meeting of the Optical Society of America in May 1973. The application of this class of laser in the patented Lasik eye surgery would eventually eliminate the need for glasses or contact lenses in many cases.

In recognition of his pioneering research in high energy lasers and new laser systems, he was elected by his peers as a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers as well as of the American Physical Society.

Dr. Bhaumik's current interest is in sharing with the public the astounding advances in quantum physics and cosmology and their implications for our lives, work, technology, and spiritual development. This he endeavors to do through books such as the internationally published Code Name God and The Cosmic Detective, articles, lectures, and TV programs like the award-winning Cosmic Quantum Ray. He is also keenly interested in research on the origin and the nature of consciousness and how that knowledge can be utilised in improving the quality of our existence.

Dr. Bhaumik has published over fifty papers in various professional journals and is a holder of a dozen laser-related U.S. patents. His latest paper, Unified Field—the Universal Blueprint? appeared in the February 2000 issue of the International Journal of Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences. He has been invited to lecture all over the world, at forums including: Summer School on High-Power Gas Lasers, Capri, Italy 1975; International Symposium on Gas-Flow and Chemical Lasers, Belgium 1978; International Symposium on Gas Discharge Lasers, Grenoble, France 1979; Asoke Sarkar Memorial Lecture, Calcutta International Book Fair 2001; Institute of Culture, Calcutta, India 2006; Netaji Subhas Open University, Calcutta, India 2008.

He is the official patron of the International Year of Astronomy (IYA).[1]

Books, media, and philanthropic activities

Dr. Bhaumik utilized the earnings from his scientific career to seed various investments and was able to leave the poverty of his childhood behind. His life was chronicled on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Later he discovered that spirituality is an essential ingredient for an abiding happiness and turned to the study of the relationship between advanced science and spirituality.

His intensive search spanned a decade, produced a number of significant papers, and led him to the inference that the One Source at the hub of all spiritual traditions is grounded in scientific reality and not a mere creation of blind faith. He also argues forcefully that contrary to the popular misconception, science and spirituality are indeed two sides of the same coin, the coin being that unique human consciousness that allows us to perceive both ourselves and objective reality. Therefore, he argues in his book Code Name God (Crossroads Publishing), the big divide between science and spirituality can be bridged. The trick, Bhaumik asserts, is to see things in an entirely new light–a light shed upon by the recent revelations of quantum physics and cosmology. He now devotes much of his time and energy to bringing this message to the public, including its younger members, for whom he has recently published The Cosmic Detective (Penguin 2008), a primer on cosmology, and created an award winning animated television series, Quantum Ray, shown on DISH Network’s Animania channel and distributed worldwide.

Dr. Bhaumik has instituted an annual International Award through the UCLA Neuropsychiatry Institute to acknowledge the best scientific evidence demonstrating the effect of mind in healing. He has been involved in numerous community activities through his association with the Los Angeles Bombay Sister City Association; the Los Angeles St. Petersburg Sister City association; the Long Beach Calcutta sister City Association and others. He has donated to various charitable organizations including the Thalians of Los Angeles and the Israel Cancer Research Fund. But he is perhaps best known and revered internationally for his creation of the Bhaumik Educational Foundation, based in Calcutta, which provides full scholarships to needy but brilliant students who wish to apply themselves to studies in science and technology.

Code Name: God

First published in the U.S. in 2005, Code Name God (Crossroads Publishing ISBN 10-0824525191), Code Name: God is a distillation of Dr. Bhaumik's central thesis that the discoveries of modern physics can be reconciled with the great truths of the world religions when those truths are viewed as elements of what Aldous Huxley called "The Perennial Philosophy." In particular, Dr. Bhaumik finds strong support in advanced physics and cosmology for the Neo-Platonic notion of "the One" (identified here as "The One Source"), and conjectures that this existential source may reside in what is known as the quantum vacuum state and be in some manner co-eternal and co-equal with human consciousness. The book and its premise have been praised by luminaries of both the literary and scientific words, including Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who wrote, "This example of a personal spiritual growth...and re-evaluation of material values...arouses very warm feelings. God is one and there are no major differences between religions." Fritjof Capra, author of The Tao of Physics, wrote "...the attempt to find common ground between Eastern spirituality and Western science is eloquently told and makes for fascinating reading."

Honors and awards

•Elected fellow of the American Physical Society for Advancement of Physics, 1976

•Elected fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers for development of high power lasers and new laser systems, 1982

•Elected to the prestigious Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.

•Elected Member of the scientific honor society, Sigma Xi, Los Angeles

•Received Honorary D.Sc degree for Lifetime Academic Achievements from Indian Institute of Technology, 1995

•Received Lifetime Achievement Award, North America Bengali association, Los Angeles, 2003

•Honored by the Cultural Association of Bengal for Philanthropic Services to community, New York, 2005

•Received Mahatma Gandhi Humanitarian Award from Indian American Heritage Foundation presented by Sir Ben Kingsley, Beverly Hills, 2005

•Received Award for Outstanding Achievement in Science and Philanthropic Contribution from Asian Heritage Committee, New York, 2006

•Elected fellow of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta, India, 2006

•Listed in Who’s Who in America and in Who’s who in the World

•Listed in the American Men and Women in Science

•Received Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award, one of the most prestigious civilian awards given by the Government of India to honor an exceptionally successful and meritorious Indian residing abroad for his extraordinary contribution, 2010

Selected appearances on radio and television

1. Voice of America, May 25, 2005

2. PBS Syndicated TV program “Between The Lines” , June 17

3. Syndicated Cable Program “Bridging Heaven and Earth” Sept 15

4. Jim Engster Show, New Orleans, Louisiana May 13

5. “Wake up America”, Palm Springs, California May 14

6. Joey English Show, Palm Springs, California May 19

7. “Journey Home”, KSFR, Santa Fe, New Mexico July 11& 19

8. “The Aware Show”, KPFK, Los Angeles November 10

9. Durdarshan Indian National TV, 2005,2006,2007

10. Reach MD XM 157, 2007.

Philanthropic endeavors

•President, Cosmogenics,Inc., an educational foundation based in Los Angeles, which donates seed money to educational projects. •Founding Director, Friends of Kolkata Museum of Arts, Inc., Los Angeles, set up for raising funds to support the museum in Calcutta. •Founder of the annual Bhaumik International Award at UCLA for the best scientific evidence demonstrating effect of mind on healing. •Managing Trustee, Moni Bhaumik Educational foundation in Calcutta, India. The Foundation provides full financial support for university education of over one hundred highly meritorious but extremely underprivileged students from rural Bengal. It is now in the process of building an IT oriented University there for providing a world class graduate and post-graduate education.

Due to his extraordinary achievements Dr. Bhaumik is revered in his native West Bengal, where a book length biography, Mani the Jewel, has been a consistent bestseller.

References

• Code Name God: The Spiritual Odyssey of a Man of Science, published by The Crossroad Publishing Company, New York, 2005; Penguin Books, April 2006; Audio book by AudioFile, Portland, Maine, 2007; Paperback edition by Crossroad, 2008.
• “The Cosmic Detective: Exploring The Mysteries Of Our Universe” published by Puffin Books of the Penguin Group, 2008.
• http://www.astronomy2009.org/organisation/structure/partners/patron/
• India Gazette, January 2010

External links

• Indian Life and Style
• Pride of India
• Hindustan Times article
• New Kerala
• American Physical Society
• United States Patent and Trademark Office