Lobsang Yongdan

Lobsang Yongdan is a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) in Berlin, holding a PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge (2014). His work integrates the history of science, historical anthropology, and connected histories to explore Euro-Tibetan intellectual exchanges.

Research Focus: Yongdan investigates how Tibetan Buddhist lamas at the Qing imperial courts (1642–1911) translated and disseminated European scientific knowledge into Tibetan, particularly its influence on Tibetan intellectual traditions. His dissertation centered on Jampel Tendzin Trinlé (Tsenpo Nomohan), who introduced European geography via the Tibetan text ’Dzam gling rgyas bshad (The Detailed Description of the World). At MPIWG, he examined the Qing-era lama Akya Lobzang Tenpé Gyaltsen’s role in transmitting the Pythagorean theorem to Tibetan mathematics.

Publications & Impact: His recent work, published in Inner Asia, analyzes 18th-century Jesuit mathematical texts translated into Tibetan. Despite no explicit list of scientific awards, his research bridges historical, cultural, and scientific narratives, emphasizing cross-cultural knowledge transfer.