As a member of Tibetan Scientific Society, I had the great privilege to attend the dialogue between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and a group of scientists on the topic of “Quantum Effects” at Dharamshala from 1-3 November, 2018. As a working scientist, I recognized the importance of this meeting that explored the points of convergence between Quantum Physics and Buddhist Philosophy. 

Like every year, Department of Education of the CTA announced scholarships for 10 Tibetan students to spend a month at either National Center for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bengaluru or Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune. I was very happy to have been selected to participate in the internship program at IISER Pune. 

In 1895, Lord Kelvin, the renowned Scottish scientist, declared that Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible. Less than eight years later, Wright brothers made their first flight over the sands of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Their flight lasted for only about twenty something seconds, but it was able to demonstrate the possibility of a machine that is heavier than air to get off the ground in a sustained manner.

Every commercial airplane must adhere to what are called certified maximum takeoff and maximum landing weights that should not be exceeded. Maximum landing weight is primarily driven by the ability of the airplane to come to a full stop by the end of the runway and its landing gear system to safely touch down without sustaining any significant structural damage.

IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND the law of the equivalence of mass and energy, we must go back to two conservation or “balance” principles which, independent of each other, held a high place in pre-relativity physics. These were the principle of the conservation of energy and the principle of the conservation of mass.

This article is a result of a suggestion from a friend to give a presentation on “Scientific Methodology” to Tibetan monastic science scholars. So, my target audience will mainly be the monastic science scholars who are already engaged in the study of Buddhist philosophy.

Shortly after the publishing of his special theory of relativity, Einstein immediately began working out equations that encompassed geometric views of gravitation and introduced new and exciting concepts that replaced Newtonian mechanics, which had lasted 250 years.

Gen Karma Rinchen has been teaching physics at Tibetan Children’s Village (TCV) schools for about fifteen years. Having been through Tibetan school system in India himself and experienced the shortcomings of how science had always been taught, he decided to do something about it, now as a teacher.