People

Bringing science to Buddhist monks

By Roberta Kwok

As a senior staff scientist at the Exploratorium museum in San Francisco, Paul Doherty has taught kids, high school teachers and the audience of the Late Show with David Letterman about physics. But when he visited India last year, he had a different set of students: monks and nuns.

Monks in India learn about physics, perception and other science topics through the Science for Monks program. Courtesy of P. Doherty

Physicist Paul Doherty teaches Tibetan monks why the sun appears larger at sunset during a 2011 trip to India. Courtesy of P. Doherty

Doherty is part of Science for Monks, a program run by the Sager Family Foundation in Boston and the Library of Tibetan Works & Archives in Dharamsala, India.