BSc (Ceylon), MA, PhD, ScD (Cantab), Hon DSc (Sri Lanka, Ruhuna), Hon DLitt (Tokyo, Soka), FIMA, FRAS, FRSA
Director of the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology, University of Buckingham; Honorary Professor, University of Buckingham; Visiting Professor, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka; Board Member and Director of Research, Institute for the Study of Panspermia and Astroeconomics
Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe was born in Sri Lanka in 1939 and was educated at Royal College, Colombo and later at the University of Ceylon. In 1960 he obtained a First Class Honours degree in Mathematics and won a Commonwealth scholarship to proceed to Trinity College Cambridge. He commenced work in Cambridge on his PhD degree under the supervision of the late Sir Fred Hoyle, and published his first scientific paper in 1961. He was awarded a PhD degree in Mathematics in 1963 and was elected a Fellow of Jesus College Cambridge in the same year. In the following year he was appointed a Staff Member of the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge. Here he began his pioneering work on the nature of Interstellar Dust, publishing many papers in this field that led to important paradigm shifts in astronomy. He published the first definitive book on Interstellar Grains in 1967. In 1973 he was awarded Cambridge University’s highest doctorate for Science, the ScD. Chandra Wickramasinghe is acknowledged as a leading expert on interstellar material and the origins of life. He has made many important contributions in these fields, publishing over 350 papers in major scientific journals, over 75 in the journal Nature. 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.
Jointly with the late Sir Fred Hoyle he was awarded the International Dag Hammarskjold Gold Medal for Science in 1986. Chandra Wickramasinghe was a UNDP Consultant and Advisor to the President of Sri Lanka in 1982-84, and played a key role in the setting up of the Institute of Fundamental Studies in Sri Lanka. In 1983/84 he was appointed the founder Director of the Institute of Fundamental Studies by President J.R. Jayawardene. 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.
In 1973 he was appointed Professor and Head of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Mathematical Physics at University College, Cardiff, being the youngest Professor appointed at the University upto that time. He was responsible for starting an Astrophysics research group in Cardiff under the auspices of a new Department that was formed under his headship, the Department of Applied Mathematics and Astronomy. He remained Head of this Department until 1989 by which time the Astronomy Research School in Cardiff was regarded as being one of the best in the UK. From 1989-1999 he has held the post of Professor of Applied Mathematics and Astronomy within a newly structured School of Mathematics at Cardiff University of Wales. In the year 2000 he was appointed Director of the newly formed Cardiff Centre for Astrobiology. In 2006 he retired from the Professorship of Applied Mathematics and Astronomy, but continued as Professor and Director of the Cardiff Centre for Astrobiology. In 2007 he was appointed Honorary Professor at Glamorgan University. He became Director of the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology in 2011 and is an Honorary Professor at the University.
He is an award-winning poet and the author or co-author of over 30 books and over 350 scientific papers. He has held visiting professorial appointments in a large number of Universities world-wide. In recognition of his extensive contributions to science and culture he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Soka University of Tokyo, Japan in 1996. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) by the Unversity of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka in 2004.
In addition to giving many endowed lectures at Universities worldwide, he was the John Snow Memorial Lecturer and John Snow Medallist of the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland in 2004. In 2005 he was named in the first annual Asian Power 100, a list of the most influential Asians living in the UK.
Research interests: Interstellar Matter, Infrared Astronomy, Light Scattering Theory, Applications of Solid State Theory to Astronomy, The early Solar System, Comets, Astrochemistry and the Origins of Life, Astrobiology, Panspermia, History of Science
Read more on Professor Wickramasinghe’s personal website.
Contact
Email: ncwick@gmail.com
Tel: +44 (0)2920752146 / +44 (0)7778389243
Books:
Interstellar Grains (Chapman & Hall, London, 1967)
Light Scattering Functions for Small Particles with Applications in Astronomy (J. Wiley, 1973)
Solid-State Astrophysics (ed. with D.J. Morgan) D. Reidel Co., 1975
Interstellar Matter (with F.D. Khan & P.G. Mezger) Swiss Astron.Soc., 1974
Cosmic Laboratory (University College, Cardiff Press, 1975)
Lifecloud: The Origin of Life in the Galaxy (with Fred Hoyle) J.M. Dent, Lond., 1978
Diseases from Space (with Fred Hoyle) J.M. Dent, Lond., 1979
Origin of Life (with Fred Hoyle) University College Cardiff Press, 1979
Space Travellers: The Bringers of Life (with Fred Hoyle) University College Cardiff Press, 1981
Evolution from Space (with Fred Hoyle), J.M. Dent, 1981
Is Life an Astronomical Phenomenon? University College Cardiff Press, 1982
Why Neo Darwinism Does Not Work (with Fred Hoyle), University College Cardiff Press, 1982
Proofs that Life is Cosmic (with Fred Hoyle), Inst. of Fund.Studies, Sri Lanka, Mem, No. 1, 1982
From Grains to Bacteria (with Fred Hoyle), University College Cardiff Press, 1984
Fundamental Studies and the Future of Science (editor), University College Cardiff Press, 1984
Living Comets (with Fred Hoyle), University College Cardiff Press, 1985
Archaeopteryx, the Primordial Bird (with Fred Hoyle), Christopher Davies, Swansea, 1986
Life on Mars: The Case for a Cosmic Heritage (with Fred Hoyle), Clinical Press, Bristol, 1997
Cosmic Dragons: Life and Death on Our Planet, Souvenir Press Ltd, London, 2001
Fred Hoyle’s Universe (ed. with G. Burbidge and J. Narlikar) Kluwer Academic Publ, 2003
Comets and the Origin of Life (with J. Wickramasinghe and W. Napier), World Scientific Publ., 2010
A Journey with Fred Hoyle, World Scientific Publ, 2005 (2nd ed. with foreword by Lord Tanlaw, 2013)
Selected Publications
- Chandra Wickramasinghe et al., “Comets as parent bodies of CII carbonaceous meteorites and possible habitats of ice-microbes”
- Chandra Wickramasinghe et al., “Life-bearing primordial planets in the solar vicinity”
- Chandra Wickramasinghe, “DNA sequencing and predictions of the cosmic theory of life”
- Chandra Wickramasinghe, “Non-terrestrial origin of life: a transformative research paradigm shift”
- Chandra Wickramasinghe et al., “Isolation of a diatom frustule fragment from the lower stratosphere (22-27Km) – evidence for a cosmic origin”, Journal of Cosmology 22 (2013), 10183-10188
- Chandra Wickramasinghe et al., “Isolation of biological entities from the stratosphere”, Journal of Cosmology 22 (2013), 10189-10197
- Chandra Wickramasinghe, A Journey with Fred Hoyle (2nd ed., Singapore: World Scientific, 2013)
- Chandra Wickramasinghe et al., “Biology associated with a titanium sphere isolated from the stratosphere”, Journal of Cosmology 23.5 (2013), 11117-11125
- S.G. Coulson, M.K. Wallis & N.C. Wickramasinghe, “On the dynamics of volatile meteorites”, Monthly Newsletter of the Royal Astronomical Society 445(4) (December 21, 2014), 3669-3673
- Chandra Wickramasinghe, The Search for Our Cosmic Ancestry (Singapore: World Scientific, 2014)
- N. Chandra Wickramasinghe, Gensuke Tokoro and Milton Wainwright, “The Transition from Earth-centred Biology to Cosmic Life”, Journal of Astrobiology and Outreach 3.1 (2015)
- N.C. Wickramasinghe, M. Wainwright, W.E. Smith, G. Tokoro, S. Al Mufti and M.K. Wallis, “Rosetta Studies of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko: Prospects for Establishing Cometary Biology”, Journal of Astrobiology and Outreach 3.1 (2015)
- Max K. Wallis and N.C. Wickramasinghe, “Rosetta Images of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko: Inferences from Its Terrain and Structure”, Journal of Astrobiology and Outreach 3.1 (2015)
- R. Gangappa, N.C. Wickramasinghe, S. Kumar & G. Louis, Growth and replication of red rain cells at 121oC and their red fluorescence, Proc SPIE 7819 (2010)
- C.H. Gibson, N.C. Wickramasinghe & R.E. Schild, Primordial planets, comets and moons foster life in the cosmos, Proc SPIE 7819 (2010)
- C.H. Gibson, N.C. Wickramasinghe & R.E. Schild, First life in primordial-planet oceans: The biological Big Bang, Journal of Cosmology 11 (2010)
- C.H. Gibson, R.E. Schild & N.C. Wickramasinghe, The origin of life from primordial planets, International Journal of Astrobiology, 10.2 (2010)
- K. Rauf, A. Hann, C. Wickramasinghe & B. DiGregorio, Microstructural investigation of the Carancas meteorite, Int. J. Astrobiol. 10.2 (2010)
- K. Rauf & C. Wickramasinghe, Evidence for biodegradation products in the interstellar medium, Int.J.Astrobiol. 9.1 (2010)
- K. Rauf, A. Hann, M. Wallis & C. Wickramasinghe, Study of putative microfossils in space dust from the stratosphere, International Journal of Astrobiology 9.3 (2010)
- K. Rauf, A. Hann & N.C. Wickramasinghe, Microstructure and elemental composition of the Tagish Lake meteorite and its astrobiological implications, International Journal of Astrobiology 9.1 (2010)
- M. Tuleta, L. Gabla & N.C. Wickramasinghe, Slow ion irradiation of sugar: astrobiological implications, Int.J.Astrobiol. 8.4 (2009)
- M.K. Wallis, J.T. Wickramasinghe & N.C. Wickramasinghe, Mars Polar Cap: a habitat for elementary life, Int.J.Astrobiol. 8.2 (2009)
- C. Wickramasinghe, Viva panspermia, The Observatory Magazine (June 2010)
- J.T. Wickramasinghe, N.C. Wickramasinghe & M.K. Wallis, Liquid water and organics in comets: implications for exobiology, Int.J.Astrobiol. 8.4 (2009)
- N.C. Wickramasinghe, Spectroscopic evidence of cosmic life, Int.J.Astrobiol. 11 (2010)
- N.C. Wickramasinghe, The astrobiological case for our cosmic ancestry, Int.J.Astrobiol. 9 (2010)
- C. Wickramasinghe, Bacterial morphologies supporting cometary : a reappraisal, International Journal of Astrobiology 10 (2011)
- N.C. Wickramasinghe, J. Wallis, C.H. Gibson & R.E. Schild, Evolution of primordial planets in relation to the cosmological origin of life, Proc. SPIE 7819 (2010)