Establishment of Prof. Lakshman Dissanayake Gold Medal Fund
WE HAVE RAISED THE FULL AMOUNT REQUIRED FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SCHOLARSHIP FUND. THANK YOU FOR EVERYONE WHO CONTRIBUTED.
A cheque for Rs.1.0 mn. to initiate the Lakshman Dissanayake Gold Medal for Physics was handed over to the Vice-Chancellor by Professor Kamal Vidanapathirana on 08th April,2015.
In the picture from left: Dr. Kalinga Bandara,(Head, Dept. of Physics), Prof. Anura Wickramasinghe (Dean, Faculty of Science), Prof. Atula Senaratne (Vice-Chancellor), Prof. Kamal Vidanapathirana (President, Fund raising Committee), and Prof. Lakshaman Dissanayake, Prorfessor Emeritus.
Prof. Lakshman Dissanayake entered the Faculty of Science at University of Peradeniya in 1966 and graduated in 1970 as one of the students in the very first Physics special batch at Peradeniya. Just after graduation, he joined the Department of Physics at Peradeniya in 1971 and served the University for more than 40 years as Lecturer/Senior Lecturer/Professor/Senior Professor as well as the Head of the Department of Physics and also as the Director of the Postgraduate Institute of Science (PGIS) until his retirement in 2010. Currently he is serving as a Research Professor at the Institute of Fundamental Studies (IFS), Kandy and Professor Emeritus at University of Peradeniya.
After completing his Ph.D. in Experimental Solid State Physics from Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA in 1977, Prof. Dissanayake returned to Peradeniya and became an active and dedicated member of the Physics academic staff. During his period of service at University of Peradeniya, he made numerous contributions to develop Physics Education and Research in Physics. He was largely instrumental in initiating from scratch, Physics research activities at Peradeniya starting from 1985 in collaboration with International Programmes in Physical Sciences (IPPS), Uppsala University, Sweden and Chalmers University, Sweden. He was the first Professor of Solid State Physics in Sri Lanka. He has been a visiting Professor at University of Aberdeen, UK and University of Illinois at Chicago, USA and a visiting post-doctoral Research Fellow at Chalmers University, Sweden and University of Oklahoma, USA. He was responsible for organising several international and national conferences to promote Solid State Physics and related research in Sri Lanka.
In recognition of his contributions made to develop the Physics Education and Physics research, Professor Dissanayake was awarded the "VidyaNidhi' by H.E. the President of Sri Lanka in 2005 and the Committee of Vice Chancellors and Directors (CVCD) Award in 2010 by H.E. the President of Sri Lanka for the Most Outstanding Researcher in Physical Sciences. In recognition of his long term services to education and research, he was awarded Hon. D.Sc. degree by Wayamba University of Sri Lanka in 2013. |
 |
Professor Dissanayake has authored several popular Physics text books for the A/L Physics students and teachers. He was instrumental in establishing several postgraduate degree programmes at Peradeniya. He has taught Physics to few thousand undergraduate students and produced many M.Sc., M.Phil. and Ph.D. students at Peradeniya. In addition, as the Chairman of the Asian Physics Education Network (ASPEN) he has helped to promote computer based interactive Physics teaching in several Asian countries with the support of UNESCO. Even after his retirement from the University he continuous to be active in Physics research as a Research Professor at the IFS.
As a tribute to his invaluable service for the Physics education and research, his students have decided to establish a Gold Medal in his name to be awarded to the student with best performance at the Physical Special Degree at the annual Convocation of the University of Peradeniya.
To establish this gold medal, a minimum of Rs. 1.0 Mn(USD 7700) has to be deposited at the university. In order to raise the necessary funds, an organizing committee has been formed and an account has been created.
The organizing committee invites all past students of Professor Dissanayake, who graduated from the Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and PGIS as graduates or postgraduates to make voluntary contributions towards this fund. Once required funds are collected and transferred to the University, the University will open a fixed deposit account and from the annual interest earned, the cost of the Gold medal will be covered every year. The Physics Department is in the process of formulating guidelines for selecting the student with best performance for this award. We hope to launch this award in February, next year, on Professor Dissanayake‟s 70th Birthday.
Your contributions can be sent to the bank account opened for this purpose at Sampath Bank, Kandy City Center Branch. Please see the how to contribute page for more information on how to contribute.
Hope you all will join with us to fulfill this honorable task.
Prof. Kamal Vidanapathirana
Chairman, Organizing Committee for fund raising for
Prof. LakshmanDissanayake Gold Medal
E-mail: kamlpv41965@gmail.com