Wickramasinghe surname

Wickramasinghe pronunciation
Nalin Chandra Wickramasinghe MBE (born 20 January 1939) is a Sri Lankan-born British mathematician, astronomer and astrobiologist of Sinhalese ethnicity.
Nalin Chandra Wickramasinghe MBE is a Sri Lankan-born British mathematician, astronomer and astrobiologist of Sinhalese ethnicity.

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as well as popular expositions of his ideas. His total count of technical journal papers exceeds 400, and some 60 of these have appeared in the journal Nature. Chandra was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 1939, and received his early education at Royal College, Colombo and the University of Ceylon. In 1961 he went to Cambridge, UK, where he began his life-long collaboration with Sir Fred Hoyle. Recent books include: Cosmic Genetic Evolution (Academic Press), Diseases from Outer Space, A Journey with Fred Hoyle, The Search for Our Cosmic Ancestry, Where did we come from? (World Scientific Publishing Singapore), and Our Cosmic Ancestry in the Stars (Inner Traditions USA).

He was a Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge from 1963-1973, Professor at University College Cardiff and Cardiff University from 1973-2011. Currently he is an Honorary Professor at the University of Buckingham UK, and also at the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka, the Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, Sri Lanka, and an Adjunct Professor at the National Institute of Fundamental Studies, Sri Lanka

“Poems by Chandra

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Journal of Astrobiology & Outreach

Nalin Chandra Wickramasinghe

Biography

Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe is an internationally renowned astronomer who has made pioneering contributions to the theory of cosmic dust. In 1974 he first proposed the theory that dust in interstellar space and in comets was largely organic, a theory that has now been vindicated. In collaboration with Sir Fred Hoyle he propounded the theory of cometary panspermia. Jointly with Sir Fred Hoyle he was awarded the International Dag Hammarskjold Gold Medal for Science in 1986, and in 1992 he was decorated by the President of Sri Lanka with the titular honour of Vidya Jyothi. He was awarded the International Sahabdeen Prize for Science in 1996. He holds the ScD degree from the University of Cambridge and an honorary doctorate from the Soka University of Tokyo, Japan, an honorary doctorate from Ruhuna University of Sri Lanka, along with several other international distinctions. A Fellow of Jesus College Cambridge, 1962-1973; Staff Member of the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy in the University of Cambrid

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Chandra Wickramasinghe

British astronomer (born 1939)

Nalin Chandra WickramasingheMBE (born 20 January 1939) is a Sri Lankan-born British mathematician, astronomer^[1] and astrobiologist of Sinhalese ethnicity. His research interests include the interstellar medium, infrared astronomy, light scattering theory, applications of solid-state physics to astronomy, the early Solar System, comets, astrochemistry, the origin of life and astrobiology. A student and collaborator of Fred Hoyle, the pair worked jointly for over 40 years^[2] as influential proponents of panspermia.^[3]^[4] In 1974 they proposed the hypothesis that some dust in interstellar space was largely organic, later proven to be correct.^[5]^[6]^[7]

Wickramasinghe has advanced numerous fringe claims, including the argument that various outbreaks of illnesses on Earth are of extraterrestrial origins, including the 1918 flu pandemic and certain outbreaks of polio and mad cow disease. For the 1918 flu pandemic they hypothesised that cometary dust brought