{{Short description|German telecommunications engineer and skeptic (born 1955)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}} {{Use British English|date=July 2017}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Amardeo Sarma | image = Amardeo Sarma EuroSkepCon2015.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Sarma at the 15th European Skeptics Congress in London (2015) | birth_date = 1955 | birth_place = Kassel, West Germany | residence = | citizenship = | nationality = | fields = | workplaces = | alma_mater = Technische Universität Darmstadt | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = Leading skeptical activist | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | website = | footnotes = | spouse = | module = {{Listen|embed=yes|filename=Amardeo Sarma voice - en.ogg|title=<span align="center">Amardeo Sarma's voice</span>|type=speech|description=<span align="center">Recorded September 2017</span>}} }} '''Amardeo Sarma''' (born 1955<ref name="CICAP">{{Cite web |url=http://www.cicap.org/congress/sarma.html |title=Amardeo Sarma |work=CICAP website |publisher=Comitato Italiano per il Controllo delle Affermazioni sulle Pseudoscienze |date=2004 |accessdate=9 November 2014 |language=it}}</ref>) is a qualified engineer for electrical and telecommunications engineering, chair of the Gesellschaft zur wissenschaftlichen Untersuchung von Parawissenschaften (GWUP) and former chair of the European Council of Skeptical Organisations. Professionally, he works for NEC Laboratories Europe.<ref name="WiW">{{Cite web |url=http://www.gwup.org/component/content/article/44/760-wiw-amardeo-sarma |title=Amardeo Sarma (GWUP Who is Who) |work=GWUP website |publisher=GWUP |accessdate=9 November 2014 |language=de}}</ref> Sarma is a CSI Fellow and sits on the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry's Executive Council.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fellows and Staff |url=https://skepticalinquirer.org/fellows-and-staff/ |website=Skeptical Inquirer |access-date=11 December 2025}}</ref>
==Biography== ===Education=== Sarma was born 1955 in Kassel, West Germany.<ref name="CICAP"/> He earned his bachelor's degree in technology at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, and obtained the title of qualified engineer (Diplom-Ingenieur) at the Technische Universität Darmstadt.<ref>[https://archive.today/20161026145426/https://de.linkedin.com/in/amardeo-sarma-2406241 Amardeo Sarma – LinkedIn]</ref>
===NEC=== As president of the TDL Executive Board and a General Manager at NEC Laboratories Europe, Sarma was present at the Trust in the Digital World and the Cyber Security & Privacy (CSP) EU Forum 2013, that addressed the issue of fighting cybercrime.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.gms-uk.co.uk/prosecurenewsonline/new/article.php?articleID=2297§ion=CyberSecurity |title=Conference Programme Announced For The Trust in the Digital World And Cyber Security & Privacy EU Forum 2013 |work=ProSecureNewsOnline |publisher=Henry Lott |date=11 April 2013 |accessdate=25 March 2015}}</ref>
===Skeptical movement=== thumb|Sarma at an ECSO meeting [[File:Amardeo Sarma lecture 1 EuroSkepCon2015.jpg|thumb|Sarma lectures about climate change denial.]] From his early childhood on, Sarma was very interested in science and scientific controversies, and read books by Erich von Däniken and Charles Berlitz about the Bermuda Triangle.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.hoaxilla.com/hoaxilla-video-1-interview-mit-amardeo-sarma/ |title=Interview mit Amardeo Sarma |work=Hoaxilla Video |publisher=Hoaxilla |accessdate=12 November 2014 |language=de}}</ref><ref name="ESP">{{Cite episode |url=http://theesp.eu/podcast_archive/episode_024_amardeo_sarma.html |title=Episode #024, feat. Amardeo Sarma |last=Pintér |first=András |last2=Levin |first2=Jelena |last3=Böckman |first3=Pontus |series=The European Skeptics Podcast |number=24 |type=podcast |date=28 May 2016 |accessdate=21 July 2017}} {{rp|at=21:05}}</ref> However, he then came across books that took up the issue more seriously and scientifically, especially when he read ''The Bermuda Triangle Mystery – Solved'' (1975) by Larry Kusche. This got him thinking: "How come this information was not available to me before? At that point I decided that something's got to be done to provide more critical, skeptical and science-based information to the public, so that people don't get fooled the way I was."<ref name="ESP"/> In 1982, he read an article by Douglas Hofstadter in ''Spektrum der Wissenschaft'', the German version of ''Scientific American'', on the huge difference in quality between the ''National Enquirer'' and the ''Skeptical Inquirer''. It was through subscribing to the latter magazine that he found his way to the skeptical movement.<ref name="ESP"/> In 1987, he was a founding member of the GWUP.<ref name="CICAP"/> He decided to found the GWUP after finding out that the research project "Influence of Earth radiation, geomagnetism and cosmic effects on human health", which he considered to be extremely unscientific, was being funded by the German government.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.journalistenakademie.de/dossierbeitrag.php?b=3081|title=Interview mit Amardeo Sarma |work=Digitale Pressemappe zur XXIII. GWUP-Konferenz Skepkon 2014 |publisher=Skepkon |accessdate=12 November 2014 |language=de}}</ref> Sarma began as the managing director of the GWUP, and since 2008 he has been its chair.<ref name="WiW"/> In 1994, he was also co-initiator of the European skeptical umbrella ECSO, serving as its chair between 2000 and 2013, and as its treasurer thereafter.<ref name="WiW"/><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://szkeptikustarsasag.hu/hirek/42-hirek/700-magyar-ecso-vezeto |title=Magyar vezető az európai szkeptikus szervezet élén |author=Gábor Hraskó |work=Website Szkeptikus Társaság |publisher=Szkeptikus Társaság |date=25 August 2013 |accessdate=9 November 2014 |language=hu}}</ref><ref name="About">{{Cite web |url=http://www.ecso.org/about-us |title=ECSO: Skeptics in Europe – About |publisher=ECSO website |accessdate=9 November 2014}}</ref>
In 2018, Sarma provided some perspective on the state of the skeptical movement by addressing "the essence of contemporary skepticism and [highlighting] the vital nonpartisan and science-based role of skeptics in preventing deception and harm."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sarma |first1=Amardeo |authorlink1=Amardeo Sarma |title=Skepticism Reloaded |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |date=2018 |orig-year=Originally published online 6 March 2018|volume=42 |issue=4 |pages=40–43 |url=https://www.ecso.org/skepticism-reloaded/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180704163424/https://www.ecso.org/skepticism-reloaded/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 July 2018 |accessdate=4 July 2018}}</ref>
In 2021, Sarma with the German Skeptics, created a nationwide poll based on an earlier 2001 poll by the Lutheran Magazine, ''Chrismon''. The poll found that beliefs in therapies such as Ayurveda, Bach flower remedies and homeopathy have all decreased since the original 2001 poll. The percent of people who believe in dowsing, UFOs, telekinesis, clairvoyance and seances have also decreased. The poll did identify 5G development as a fear for some respondents.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Grossman |first1=Wendy M.|authorlink = Wendy M. Grossman |title=Skeptics in Germany: An Interview with Amardeo Sarma {{!}} Skeptical Inquirer |url=https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/skeptics-in-germany-an-interview-with-amardeo-sarma/ |access-date=5 February 2024 |date=1 June 2021}}</ref>
In 2024, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) named Sarma the European representative, he was already a member of CSI's Executive Council and a CSI fellow.<ref>{{cite news |title=Amardeo Sarma Named CSI Representative in Europe |url=https://skepticalinquirer.org/volume/no-3-vol-48/ |access-date=11 December 2025 |agency=Skeptical Inquirer |volume=48 |issue=3 |date=May–June 2024}}</ref>
===10:23 Campaign=== In 2011, he coordinated the 10:23 Campaign in Germany, in which groups of people in 27 countries overdosed on homeopathic preparations, in an effort to show to the public that homeopathy does not work.<ref name="1023-Kampagne">{{Cite news |url=http://www.tagesspiegel.de/wissen/aktionstag-gegen-homoeopathie-stolzer-preis-keine-wirkung/3793472.html |title=1023-Kampagne |work=Tagesspiegel |date=4 February 2011 |publisher=Tagesspiegel |accessdate=8 December 2015 |language=de|last1=Nestler |first1=Ralf }}</ref>
===Appearances=== In 2017, Amardeo Sarma appeared at the 17th European Skeptics Congress (ESC) in Old Town Wrocław, Poland. The congress was organised by the Klub Sceptyków Polskich (Polish Skeptics Club) and Český klub skeptiků Sisyfos (Czech Skeptic's Club). At the congress he hosted a panel on exorcisms that included Mariusz Błochowiak, Konrad Szołajski, Jakub Kroulík and Chris French.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Gerbic|first1=Susan|authorlink=Susan Gerbic|title=Skeptical Adventures in Europe, Part 2|url=https://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/skeptical_adventures_in_europe_part_2|website=www.csicop.org|date=9 February 2018 |publisher=Committee for skeptical inquiry|accessdate=29 April 2018}}</ref>
==Publications== * Belina F., Hogrefe D. & Sarma A., ''Sdl With Applications from Protocol Specification (Bcs Practitioner Series)''. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall 1991. {{ISBN|0137858906}} * Faergemand O. & Sarma A., ''Sdl '93: Using Objects : Proceedings of the Sixth Sdl Forum Darmstadt, Germany, 11–15 October 1993''. Amsterdam: North-Holland (Elsevier) 1993. {{ISBN|0444814868}} * Braek R. & Sarma A., ''SDL '95 with MSC in CASE''. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science 1995. {{ISBN|0444822690}} * Ellsberger J, Hogrefe D. & Sarma A., ''SDL: Formal Object-Oriented Language for Communicating Systems''. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall 1997. {{ISBN|0136213847}} * Cavalli A. & A. Sarma A., ''SDL '97: Time for Testing: SDL, MSC and Trends''. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science 1997. {{ISBN|0444828168}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== <!-- Per WP:ELMINOFFICIAL, choose one official website only --> {{Commons category|Amardeo Sarma}} * {{Twitter|amardeo|Amardeo Sarma}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarma, Amardeo}} Category:German electrical engineers Category:German software engineers Category:21st-century German engineers Category:German technology writers Category:German skeptics Category:1955 births Category:Living people Category:Engineers from Kassel