Shiva Ayyadurai

Shiva Ayyadurai
Ayyadurai in 2012
Born
Vellayappa Ayyadurai Shiva

(1963-12-02) December 2, 1963 (age 60)
Bombay, India
EducationMassachusetts Institute of Technology (BS, MS, MEng, PhD)
Political partyIndependent (before 2020, 2023–present)
Other political
affiliations		Republican (2020–2023)
PartnerFran Drescher (2014–2016)
Scientific career
FieldsSystems biology
Computer science
Scientific visualization
Doctoral advisorForbes Dewey
Other academic advisorsRobert S. Langer
Websitevashiva.com

V. A. Shiva Ayyadurai (born Vellayappa Ayyadurai Shiva[1] on December 2, 1963) is an Indian-American engineer, entrepreneur, and anti-vaccine activist. He has become known for promoting conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, and unfounded medical claims.[2] Ayyadurai holds four degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), including a PhD in biological engineering, and is a Fulbright grant recipient.[3]

In a 2011 article published by Time,[4] Ayyadurai claimed to have invented email, as a teenager; in August 1982, he registered the copyright on an email application he had written, asserting in his copyright filing, "I, personnally, feel EMAIL is as sophisticated as any electronic mail system on the market today." Historians strongly dispute this account because email was already in use in the early 1970s. Ayyadurai sued Gawker Media and Techdirt for defamation for disputing his account of inventing email; both lawsuits were settled out of court. Ayyadurai and Techdirt agreed to Techdirt's articles remaining online with a link to Ayyadurai's rebuttal on his own website.[5]

Ayyadurai also attracted attention for two reports: the first questioning the working conditions of India's largest scientific agency; the second questioning the safety of genetically modified food, such as soybeans. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ayyadurai became known for a social media COVID-19 disinformation campaign, spreading conspiracy theories about the cause of COVID-19, promoting unfounded COVID-19 treatments, and campaigning to fire Anthony Fauci for allegedly being a deep state actor.

Ayyadurai garnered 3.39% of the vote as an independent candidate in the 2018 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts, and ran for the Republican Party nomination in the 2020 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts but lost to Kevin O'Connor in the primary.[6] After the election, he promoted false claims of election fraud.[7]

In 2024, Ayyadurai launched a campaign for president of the United States.[8] However, because he is not a natural-born American citizen, he is ineligible to serve as president.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference mittech was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^
    • Levinovitz, Alan (August 4, 2021). "People want control over their health care. Vaccine mandates disempower them". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 16, 2021.
    • Lee, Bruce Y. "Coronavirus: Here Are 10 Misconceptions Being Spread". Forbes. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
    • Breland, Ali. "Wellness influencers are spreading QAnon conspiracies about the coronavirus". Mother Jones. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
    • "These Are The Fake Experts Pushing Pseudoscience And Conspiracy Theories About The Coronavirus Pandemic". BuzzFeed News. May 21, 2020. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
    • Weill, Kelly (September 8, 2021). "GOP Election Truthers Tap a Failed Politician and Conspiracy Theorist for Sham Audit". The Daily Beast – via www.thedailybeast.com.
  3. ^ Trafton, Anne (September 17, 2007). "East Meets West: Armed with 4 MIT Degrees, Shiva Ayyadurai Embarks on New Adventure". MIT Tech Talk. MIT. Retrieved November 10, 2016. In the 26 years since he first arrived at MIT as a freshman, V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai has earned four MIT degrees and started two multimillion dollar companies. This fall, he will use his most recent degree, a Ph.D. in computational systems biology, and a Fulbright Scholarship to explore one of his lifelong interests: the intersection of Eastern and Western medicine.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference techland was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Wed, May 22, 2019, 10:35am-Mike Masnick (May 22, 2019). "Laying Out All The Evidence: Shiva Ayyadurai Did Not Invent Email". Techdirt. Retrieved December 15, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ "O'Connor Projected To Win GOP Senate Primary Over Ayyadurai". WBUR. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference mass_fact_check was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "Shiva Ayyadurai announces 2024 U.S.Presidential bid". New India Abroad. Retrieved November 5, 2024.