Leonard van der Kuijp

Leonard W.J. van der Kuijp
Born1952
Citizenshipthe Netherlands
Alma materUniversity of Hamburg
Known forStudy of Tibetan Buddhist literature and history
Scientific career
FieldsTibetology
InstitutionsHarvard University
Doctoral advisorLambert Schmithausen
Notable studentsNathan W. Hill

Leonard W.J. van der Kuijp (Chinese: 范德康; pinyin: Fàn Dékāng, born September 23, 1952) is a Dutch professor of Tibetan and Himalayan Studies and former chair of the Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies (now the Department of South Asian Studies) at Harvard University.

Leonard van der Kuijp began his studies in mathematics, but then shifted his attention to Tibet. He received his master's degree at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada, and his doctorate at the University of Hamburg in Germany.

In 1993 van der Kuijp received the MacArthur Fellowship for "pioneering contributions to the study of Tibetan epistemology, biography and poetry.".[1] Van der Kuijp worked with the Nepal Research Center of the Humboldt University of Berlin and the University of Washington in Seattle. In July 1995 he joined the faculty at Harvard University. In 1999, he founded the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center (TBRC), together with E. Gene Smith. Van der Kuijp was elected a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2018.[2][3]

Van der Kuijp focuses his research primarily on the Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhist intellectual history, Tibetan Buddhism and the relations of Tibet to Mongolia and China.

He coauthored An Early Tibetan Survey of Buddhist Literature which was published as volume 64 of the Harvard Oriental Series in 2008.

  1. ^ Valerie J. MacMillan, "Tibetan Expert Joins Sanskrit Faculty," The Harvard Crimson, August 1, 1995. Retrieved April 6, 2010.
  2. ^ "Leonard van der Kuijp". Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 12 April 2020.
  3. ^ "Royal Academy selects 21 new members". Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. 19 April 2018. Archived from the original on 21 March 2020.