Appreciation

Professor Charles Dahanayake

Professor Charles Dahanayake, Emeritus Professor of the University of Kelaniya passed away an year ago after an unfortunate accident. To those of us who had the privilege of making his acquaintance, he was indeed a most warm hearted and an unassuming academic, a very special kind of person, a person of rare substance. Those who have had the good fortune to have studied under this great teacher have borne witness to his commitment which, to many was undisputed.

Prof. Dahanayake had his early education in Galle and later at Ananda College from where he entered university. He obtained four distinctions at the university entrance examination, a record at that time. This brilliant student did Physics Special at the university, obtained a first class and won a Commonwealth scholarship to read for his doctoral degree at the University of Bristol where he came under a Nobel Laureate, the famed Physicist Professor Cecil Frank Powell.
After completing his doctorate he returned to Lanka and joined the academic staff of the University of Peradeniya. While he was a Senior Lecturer there, he won a Smith Mundt – Fullbright Fellowship for post doctoral research at the University of Rochester, New York. He returned to Peradeniya in 1967 and in the same year moved to the University of Kelaniya where he established the Physics Department and accepted the position of Professor of Physics.
In 1971 was appointed the first Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Kelaniya. He was also the founder president of the Institute of Physics of Sri Lanka and a founding member of the University Grants Commission. He was also a past president of the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science in addition to being a member of a large number of professional associations. Professor Dahanayake also had a number of publications to his credit and has worked with some of the most famous names in his field.
Despite this most impressive academic record his greatness lay in his humility, which was an example to us all. He was indeed unassuming to a fault. He was a Buddhist who lived as a true Buddhist should; rituals were not for him, Buddhism to him was Metta (loving kindness), Karuna (compassion) and Muditha (Equanimity) and its fundamentals tenets, Sila (morality), Samadhi (meditation and control of the mind) and Pagngna or the acquiring of understanding or wisdom through Meditation. He was after all a Scientist and a Physicist. He was indeed an inspiration to us all. May He Attain Nibbana.

K. Godage