Ravi V Gomatam
Ravi V Gomatam | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1950 (age 75–76) Chennai, India |
| Residence | Berkeley, CA, United States |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Alma mater | Annamalai University, Birla Institute of Technology & Science, University of Mumbai |
| Known for | Macroscopic quantum mechanics, Objective Semantic Information, Tandem Realism, Quantum Theory, philosophy |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Quantum Theory, foundations of quantum mechanics, philosophy of physics, consciousness studies |
| Institutions | Institute for Semantic Information Sciences & Technology, Bhaktivedanta Institute, Birla Institute of Technology & Science |
Ravi Veeraraghavan Gomatam (born 1950) is an Indian researcher on the foundations of Quantum Theory and the philosophy of physics. He is the director of the Bhaktivedanta Institute (Berkeley and Mumbai) and of the Institute for Semantic Information Sciences & Technology in Mumbai. His work centres on developing a macroscopic interpretation of quantum mechanics and on the relationship between physics and consciousness.
Biography
Gomatam was born in 1950 in Chennai, India. He received a B.E. in electrical and electronics engineering from Annamalai University (1972), an M.E. in electronics engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS), Pilani (1974), and a Ph.D. in the foundations of quantum mechanics from the University of Mumbai (1998). His doctoral dissertation was titled "Toward a realist interpretation of quantum theory – Integrating Bohr and Einstein".
Before entering academic research in the mid-1980s, Gomatam worked as a software and systems consultant, including work with Air India and Fortune-500 companies such as General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Burroughs and IBM, in the areas of operating system design, data communications and very-large database design.
He served as an adjunct professor at BITS Pilani and as a visiting professor at the Indian Council of Philosophical Research (2016–2017), and has held visiting appointments at institutions including the University of Pretoria and Loyola University New Orleans. In January 1990 he organized the First International Conference on the Study of Consciousness within Science in San Francisco, and in 1997 he launched graduate (M.S./M.Phil. and Ph.D.) programs in consciousness studies in collaboration with BITS Pilani.
Work
Gomatam works on the foundations and interpretation of quantum theory, seeking an interpretation compatible with scientific realism. He is developing an approach he calls macroscopic quantum mechanics (MQM), which aims to treat quantum superposition as directly observable at the macroscopic level rather than as confined to the micro regime through the Schrödinger equation. Within this program he proposes a new conception of matter that he terms Objective Semantic Information (OSI), and treats macroscopic objects as "quantum kinds" rather than classical objects.
To support this framework Gomatam has advanced several ideas in the philosophy of physics, including the notion of "relational properties" (positioned between primary and secondary properties) and a version of scientific realism he calls Tandem Realism. His research interests also include semantic information science and the study of consciousness in relation to physics.