Astrology is not a Science

This web site describes a letter that was written in response to a recent decision by the University Grants Commission in India, sanctioning the "science of Astrology" as an academic discipline at Colleges and Universities in India [Reference: Science Vol 292, No. 5514, p.27 (2001) ]. Please take a moment to read the letter below. If you agree with the letter, please join distinguished scientists from around the world in expressing your concern.

The following is the text of a letter that was sent to the chairman of the University Grants Commission of India and other Indian officials on July 25, 2001.


To,
Dr. Hari Gautam,
Chairman, University Grants Commission
Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg
New Delhi - 110 002

Dear Dr. Gautam:

    Recently, the University Grants Commission 
has proposed that the study of Vedic Astrology 
be sanctioned as an academic discipline at 
colleges and universities in India due to 
"...an urgent need to rejuvenate the science 
of Vedic Astrology...".  We believe that the 
criteria for validation in astrology are 
fundamentally different from those on which science
is based. Therefore, we strongly disagree with the
characterization of astrology as a science.

    Scientific education in India is highly 
respected all over the world. The inclusion of 
astrology as a science would represent a major 
setback. 

    We believe that other ways can be found to
promote respect for India's ancient culture that
do not involve a direct contradiction with contemporary
science to which so many Indians have
been distinguished contributors.

        We urge the Universities Grants Commission 
to withdraw this initiative.



cc: The Honorable Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister of
    India.

***********
A short list of eminent scientists who have signed the letter:

Prof. Sheldon Glashow, Boston University, Nobel Laureate in Physics
Prof. P. W. Anderson, Princeton University, Nobel Laureate in Physics
Prof. Guenter Ahlers, University of California at Santa Barbara, Fellow AAAS
Prof. Abhay Ashtekar, Pennsylvania State University, President, ACIPA
Prof. Jeeva S. Anandan, University of South Carolina, Past President, ACIPA
Prof. Sol M. Gruner, Cornell University, Director, CHESS
Prof. Will Happer, Physics department, Princeton University
Prof. Jainendra Jain, Physics department, Pennsylvania State University
Prof. Shamit Kachru, Packard Fellow, Physics department, Stanford University
Prof. Lawrence Krauss, Lilienfield Prize winner, Case Western University
Prof. Shrinivas Kulkarni, John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Professor, California Institute of Technology
Prof. Elliot H. Lieb, Princeton University, Member U.S. National Academy of Sciences
Prof. Jean-Claude PECKER, Membre de l'Institut, Prof. Honoraire au College de France
Prof. Joseph Polchinski, Physics department, University of California at Santa Barbara
Prof. Claudio Rebbi, Physics department & Center for Computational Science, Boston University
Dr. Anirvan Sengupta, Bell Laboratories, Lucent Techologies
Prof. Shivaji Sondhi, Physics department, Princeton University
Prof. Alan Sokal, Professor of Physics, New York University
Prof. Kameshwar Wali, Syracuse University, ACIPA Scientist of the Year 2001 
Prof. Anthony Zee, Physics department, University of California at Santa Barbara

***********

Co-ordinating committee:
    Shyamsunder Erramilli, Boston University
    Anupam Garg, Northwestern University
    Harsh Mathur, Case Western Reserve University
         
 Web Site manager:         
    Brian Gregor, Boston University




 
 

REFERENCE:

*****
Excerpt from Science Vol 292, No. 5514, p.27 (2001): [For the original reference, the magazine web site is http://www.sciencemag.org ]

Indian scientists are dismayed by government plans to sanction Vedic astrology as an academic discipline. The University Grants Commission (UGC) is soliciting proposals from universities to "rejuvenate the science of Vedic astrology," which uses Hindu teachings and planetary alignments to plumb earthly events.
******

TOP
Here is the complete list of signatories:
 
 
First
Last
Place
Ramkiran I.I.T. Bombay
Krishna Indian Institute of Technology
Archana Achalere department of Physics,University of Pune
Sreangsu Acharyya gssl
Jose Afonso Imperial College Of Science, London
Guenter Ahlers University of California at Santa Barbara
Rupasri Ain University of Kansas Medical Center
Ujjaini Alam IUCAA
Daniel Altschuler National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center
Mahesh  Anand University of Cambridge
Jeeva Anandan University of South Carolina
Joseph Andersen Physics Dept. University of Queensland
Jean-Louis Aroui Universite Paris 8
Sunil Arya Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Abhay Ashtekar The Pennsylvania State University
Kumar Bahuleyan Brain & Spine Center
Jayanth Banavar Penn State University
Rama Bansil Boston University
Rahul Basu The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai 600 113
Timothy Bedding University of Sydney
Ralf Bennartz University of Kansas
Nikhil Bhatnagar James Logan High School
Harish Bhatt Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore 560 034, India
Pijushpani  Bhattacharjee Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore 560 034, India
Satyaki Bhattacharya University of California, San Diego
Rangeet Bhattacharyya Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
Varsha Bhosle rediff.com
Hayley Bignall University of Adelaide
Pravina Borhade Department of Physics,University of Pune
Richard Bossart Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, Switzerland
Michael Burton Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
John Butler Boston University
Iver Cairns University of Sydney
Mark Calabretta Australia Telescope National Facility
Ramez Campbell University of Queensland
Bidisha Chakrabarty Datamatics Technologies Limited
Sumita Chakraborty University of Michigan
Subrata Chakraborty Physical Research Laboratory
Philip Charles University of Southampton
Philip Charles University of Southampton
Anirban  Chatterjee
Prajakta Chaudhari Department of Physics, University of Pune
Aaron Chippendale Australia Telescope National Facility
John Chivers
R. Sekhar Chivukula Boston University
Brajesh Choudhary California Institute of Technology
Durga Choudhury A private company
Anne Coles University of Queensland
Neil Comins University of Maine
Liz Craig Kansas Citizens For Science
Hans Crockett Imperial College
Arnold Dahm Case Western Reserve University
Stephen Danford Univ of North Carolina at Greensboro
Ranjan Das Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Tapas  Das IUCAA/Astronomy Unit, School of Math. Sci. QMW. Univ of London
Ranjan Das Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
K. Das Gupta Indian Institute of Science
Ujjaini Dasgupta Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Amitava  Datta Jadavpur University
Giancarlo De Pol Dipartimento di Fisica - Padova
Shantanu  Desai Boston University
Avinash Dhar Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Richard Dodson University of Tasmania
Jean Dommanget Comité Para
Peter Drummond University of Queensland
John  Dunlop Auckland Stardome Observatory
Binita  Dutta Rallis Research Center
Sushma E Sun Microsystems, India
Isabel Echeverria University of Wisconsin
Thomas Eck Case Western Reserve University
Shyamsunder Erramilli Boston University
Stefan Estreicher Texas Tech University
Akilesh Eswaran University of Cambridge
Duncan Farrah Imperial College, London
David Farrell Case Western Reserve University
Ansar Fayyazuddin Stockholm University
Christopher Fellows University of Sydney
Gerardo Fernández Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas
Lorenzo Fortunato Padua university and INFN
Andrew Fraknoi Foothill College
Roger Freedman University of California, Santa Barbara
Deborah Fygenson University of California, Santa Barbara
Rebecca Gardiner Keele University
Anupam Garg Northwestern University
Robert  Geller University of California
Tapasi Ghosh Arecibo Observatory, NAIC/Cornell University
Amit  Ghosh Pennsylvania State University
Tapasi Ghosh Arecibo Observatory, NAIC/Cornell University
Rajesh  Gopakumar Harvard University
Scott Gordon Physics Department, Queensland University
Brian  Gregor Boston University
Yves Grosdidier IAC
Sol Gruner Cornell University
Sarva Guha
Urmi Guha Industry
Alberto Guijosa Stockholm University
Alok Gupta Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad
Rajalakshmi Gurumurthy Indian Institute of Astrophysics
Thomas Gutierrez University of California, Davis
Devon Hamilton OSC
Salman Habib Los Alamos National Laboratory
Siyuan Han University of Kansas
Diana Hannikainen University of Southampton
Helen Hansma University of California
William Happer Princeton University
Lynn Hatfield Texas Tech Universityy
Alan Held Universitaet Bern
Broch Henri University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis (France)
Christian Hoelbling Boston University
Daniel Hone UC Santa Barbara
Mi Hong Boston University
Gary Horowitz University of California, Santa Barbara
Juyang Huang Texas Tech Univ.
Faheem Hussain The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste
Hans Isaksson Karolinska Institute
Liviu Ivanescu Universite de Montreal
Savitri Iyer State University of New York at Geneseo
Distler Jacques University of Texas at Austin
Shilpa  Jain Dept. of Physics, Pune University
Jainendra Jain Pennsylvania State University
Shilpa  Jain Dept. of Physics, Pune University
Allen Janis University of Pittsburgh
Thiagarajan Jayaraman Institute of Mathematical Science, Chennai
Pallavi  Jha University of Cambridge
Simon Johnston University of Sydney
Melanie Johnston-Hollitt Adelaide University
Edwin Jones University of South Carolina
Janhavi Joshi Indian Institute of Science
Shamit Kachru Stanford University
Christian Kaiser University of Southampton
Ivan Kelly University of Saskatchewan
Mike Kenyon Keele University
Lisa Kewley Australian National University
Pushpa Khare Physics Department, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, 751004
Johan Kieken Observatoire de Bordeaux
Noretta Koertge Indiana University
Kiran Kolwankar Ecole Polytechnique
Kenneth Kowalski Case Western Reserve University
Lawrence Krauss Case Western Reserve University
Kapil Krishan Georgia Institute of Technology
Badri Krishnan Pennsylvania State University
Rajendra Kshirsagar Dept. of Physics, University of Pune
Shrinivas Kulkarni California Institute of Technology
Gauri Kulkarni Department of Physics, University of Pune
Vinod Kumarappan Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai
Paul Kwiat University of Illinois
Kenneth Lane Boston University
Dan Larhammar Uppsala University
Elliott Lieb Princeton University
Leslie Lieberman University of Florida
Jose Lopez University of PR at Mayaguez
Kevin Lynch Boston University
Georgeta Maris Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy
Subhendra Mahanti Michigan State University
Karmadeva Maharana Utkal University
Martin Mahner Center for Inquiry - Europe
Sriparna Majumdar Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
Parthasarathi  Majumdar The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, India
Arnab Majumdar Boston University
Krishnamruthy Manchikanti TIFR
Swapan Mandal Visva Bharati University
Sergey Marchenko Universite de montreal
Rose  Marloe CIA, Langeley
Smita Mathur The Ohio State University
Anil Maybhate Indian Institute of Science
Harry McDonald Kansas Association of Biology Teachers
Steven McGahey University of Queensland
Vince McIntyre Australia Telescope
Douglas McKay University of Kansas
Gerald  Meisner University of North Carolina - Greensboro
Adrian Melott University of Kansas
Frederic Mina West Morris Central HS
Marc Mistral
Subhendra Mohanty Physical Research Laboratory
Peter Morse Santa Monica College
Eugene Mosca United States Naval Academy
PIa Mukherjee Kansas State University
Ayash Mukherjee Indian Institute of Science
Subir Mukhopadhyay Stockholm University
Partha Mukhopadhyay All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi
César Valentín Murillo Robles Gobierno del Estado de Zacatecas
Jayant Murthy The Indian Institute of Astrophysics
Nils Mustelin Technology Center Finland
Ajay  Nandgaonkar  Department of Physics, University of Pune, Pune, India 
Meenakshi Narain Boston University
Ramesh Narayan Harvard University
David Newman University of Alaska - Fairbanks
Ezra Newman University of Pittsburgh
Reuben Ogburn Stanford University
Richard Ogley Keele University
Archana Pai Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics
Debjani Pal Indian Institute of Science
Birendra  Pandey Centre for Plasma Astrophysics, K.U. Leuven
Sanjay  Pandey L. B. S. College, Gonda
Sagar Pandit University of North Carolina
Pushkaraj Panse University of South Florida
Abhay Parvate Department of Physics, University of Pune
Simon Pasquier Observatoire de Bordeaux
Ramesh Patnaikuni Aishwarya Financial Consultants
Biswajit Paul Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
R. Pawar
Jean-Claude Pecker College de France
Sharon Peperkamp CNRS
Christopher Phillips Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe
Slavich Pietro University of Padua
Shyamoli Plassmann Pennsylvania State University
Joseph Polchinski University of California, Santa Barbara
Massimo Porrati New York University
N Pradhan National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences, Bangalore 
Gauri Pradhan Dept. of Physics, Univ. of Pune
N Pradhan National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences, Bangalore 
Preethi Pratap M.I.T. Haystack Observatory
Promod Pratap University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Preethi Pratap M.I.T. Haystack Observatory
Manoj Puravankara Indian Institute of astrophysics
Sreerekha R.
Firoz Rajgara Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Sharad  Ramanathan Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies
Sriram Ramaswamy Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
Sumathi Rao Harish-chandra research Institute, Allahabad
Arikkala Rao Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Sumathi Rao Harish-chandra research Institute, Allahabad
Bharat Ratra Kansas State University
Kalyan Ray Deccan Herald
Koushik Ray The Abdus Salam International Centre For Theoretical Physics
Kalyan Ray Deccan Herald
Baisakhi Raychaudhuri Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Claudio Rebbi Boston University
Sidney Redner Boston University
Tom Rhodes
Gunnar Ries Hamburg University
Donna Riordan Adelaide University
Edward Robinson New York University
Stephen Roeder San Diego State University
Clara Romero Université Paris 8
Michael Roth industry
Boudewijn Roukema Observatoire de Paris - Meudon
Manojit Roy University of Michigan
Abhishek Roy University of California, Berkeley
Manojit Roy University of Michigan
Jayant S Tata Technologies Ltd
SEEMA SATIN Dept of Physics, Pune University
John Safko University of South Carolina
Nita Sahai University of Wisconsin
Tarun  Saini IUCAA
Christopher Salter National Astronomy & Ionosphere Center; Cornell University
Christopher Salter National Astronomy & Ionosphere Center; Cornell University
Scott Samuels The University of Montana
Tapobrata Sarkar Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Robert Sault Australia Telescope
Benjamin Segall Case Western Reserve University
Rahul Sen DCL, Calcutta,India
Subhra Sen Gupta Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
Aniruddha Sengupta Jawaharlal Nehru University
Anirvan Sengupta Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies
R. Shankar The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai
Jatak Sharma University of Texas at Austin
Prashant Sharma Boston University
Jatak Sharma University of Texas at Austin
Ashutosh Sharma Department of Physics
Bettadapura Sharma LSI Logic Corporation
Stephen Shawl University of Kansas
Elizabeth Simmons Boston University
Ken Simpson University of Adelaide
K.  Singh Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Vandana Singh
Alabhya Singh Alabhya.com
Neeta Singh Alabhya.com
Parampreet  Singh Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune.
Vandana Singh
William Skocpol Boston University
Peter  So Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Alan Sokal New York University
Shivaji Sondhi Princeton University
Sameet Sreenivasan Boston University
Sundar Srinivasan The Johns Hopkins University
Ajit Srivastava Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar
Franz Streisselberger
H. Stroke New York University
Kandaswamy Subramanian National Centre for Radio Astrophyisics, TIFR
Damonn Sypher University of Queensland
Chandra sekhar T.V. Martin-Luther University
Jean-Pierre THOMAS AFIS
Ranjeet Tate University of Wisconsin - Madison
Philip Taylor Case Western Reserve University
Arun Varma Thampan Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA)
Sivarani Thirupathi University of Montpellier
Tanmay Vachaspati Case Western Reserve University
Mayank Vahia Nehru Planetarium, Mumbai
Marc Vandiepenbeeck IRM
Shikha Varma Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar
Raju Venugopalan Brookhaven National Laboratory
Abhijat Vichare University of Pune
Yogesh Wadadekar Inter University Centre for Astronomy & Astrophysics
Spenta Wadia Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Kameshwar  Wali Syracuse University
George Warr University of Sydney
Andrew White Centre for Quantum Computer Technology, University of Queensland
Mogens  Winther
Masako Yamada Boston University
Matias  Zaldarriaga NYU
Barbara Zaniol University of Padua
Philippe Zarka Observatoire de Paris, Meudon
William Zealey University of Wollongong
Anthony  Zee University of California
Cornelis de Jager University of  Utrecht
Parthasarathy Kalale  
Marko Kolanovic New York University
Swapna Mahapatra utkal university
Thierry Morel Inter University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA)
Philip Phillips University of Illinois

 

TOP