In 1976 he became a founding member of the Bhaktivedanta Institute, the scientific branch of ISKCON dedicated to examining the relationship of modern scientific theories to Swami Prabhupada’s Vaishnava worldview. He published scholarly articles in refereed journals and series, such as Journal of the International Association for Mathematical Geology, Remote Sensing of Environment, Biosystems, and International Review of Cytology. Thompson carried out research in the fields of statistical mechanics, probability theory, and mathematical biology.

Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, and adopting the spiritual name Sadaputa Dasa. In the same year he formally became a member of ISKCON, receiving spiritual initiation from ISKCON's founder, A.

Thompson was born in Binghamton, New York, in 1947. Mackenzie Brown, professor of religion at Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas, described him as 'the leading figure' in ISKCON's critique of modern science. Danish historian of religion Mikael Rothstein described Thompson as 'the single dominating writer on science' in ISKCON whom ISKCON has chosen to 'cover the field of science more or less on his own'. In the 'science and religion' community he was known for his articulation of ISKCON's view of science. He was a member of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (popularly known as the Hare Krishna movement or ISKCON) and a founding member of the Bhaktivedanta Institute, the branch of ISKCON dedicated to examining the relationship of modern scientific theories to the Vaishnava worldview. Thompson also published several books and articles on the relationship between religion and science, Hindu cosmology and astronomy.

Historian Meera Nanda described him as a driving intellectual force of ' Vedic creationism' as co-author (with Michael Cremo) of Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race (1993), a work that has attracted significant criticism from the scientific community. Richard Leslie Thompson, also known as Sadaputa Dasa ( IAST: Sadāpūta Dāsa Febru– September 18, 2008), was an American mathematician, author and Gaudiya Vaishnava religious figure.

The forbidden archaeology