Prof Trinh Thuan

Professor of Astronomy
University of Virginia

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Biography

Professor Trinh Thuan is a native of Hanoi, Vietnam. He obtained his Bachelor of Sciences in Physics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1970 and his Ph.D in Astrophysics at Princeton University in 1974. Since 1976 he has been a professor of astronomy at the University of Virginia. He specializes in the study of galactic systems beyond the Milky Way and has written nearly 200 articles on the formation of elements in the Big Bang and galaxy formation and evolution.
Professor Trinh Xuan Thuan has written several books destined for the general public, including The Secret Melody (Oxford University Press, 1994), The Birth of the Universe (Discoveries, H.N. Abrams, 1993) and Chaos and Harmony (Oxford University Press, 2000). In these books, which have been translated into 15 languages and are all best sellers in France, he discusses the profound changes in world view brought about by modern scientific discoveries. His latest book, The Quantum and the Lotus (Crown, 2001), (the German version is Quantum Und Lotus, Goldmann, 2001) co-authored with French Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard, has been translated in 10 languages and is also a best-seller in France. In it, Professor Thuan explores the many remarkable connections between the ancient teachings of Buddhism and the findings of modern science.

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