Dr. Abraham Thomas Kovoor (April 10, 1898 – September 18, 1978) was a prominent Indian professor and rationalist who became an iconic figure in South Asia for his lifelong crusade against superstition and religious fraud. Born into an aristocratic Syrian Christian family in Tiruvalla, Kerala, he moved to Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in 1928, where he taught botany at prestigious institutions for over three decades.
After retiring in 1959, Kovoor devoted his life entirely to the rationalist movement, becoming a celebrated champion of scientific skepticism. He is best known for the “Abraham Kovoor Challenge,” a standing offer of a substantial cash prize—eventually reaching 100,000 Sri Lankan rupees—to anyone who could demonstrate supernatural or paranormal abilities under controlled conditions. The prize remained unclaimed. Through this challenge, his books like Begone Godmen and Gods, Demons and Spirits, and his leadership as president of the Sri Lanka Rationalist Association, he exposed countless “god-men,” astrologers, and so-called miracle workers as frauds, leaving a lasting legacy of reason and free thought in India and Sri Lanka
