Prof. Dhammika Tantrigoda

Prof. Dhammika Tantrigoda

Chairman, Board of Governors,

Chair and Senior Professor of Physics
B.Sc. (Cey), M.Sc., Ph.D. (Durham)

Prof. D. Tantrigoda obtained his first degree, Special Degree in Physics from University of Ceylon, Peradeniya Campus and he joined to Vidyodaya Campus (present University of Sri Jayewardenepura) of the University of Sri Lanka as a Probationary Assistant Lecturer in November 1974. In 1978 he left to the United Kingdom for his higher studies and obtained M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Durham. On his return to the University of Sri Jayewardenepura after successful completion of postgraduate studies he was promoted to the post of Senior Lecturer in Physics in 1982. In 1996 he was appointed the Chair of Physics which became vacant subsequent to the retirement of Prof. P.C.B. Fernando. In 2004 he was promoted to the post of Senior Professor of Physics, a position he held with dignity and distinction until his retirement on the 18th January 2015.

He gave the leadership to the Department of Physics as its head for almost twelve years and has also been the Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies. In 2011 he was elected as the 67th General President of the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS), a premier scientific body in the country.
Prof. Tantrigoda has published over 50 research papers in reputed national and international scientific journals on a spectrum of topics which made him recognized and acknowledged by the international colleagues as a leading researcher in Sri Lanka. He played a leading role in the project on “Demarcation of the Outer Edge of the Continental Margins of Sri Lanka According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea”. He has been awarded the National Science and Technology Award for the year 2008 in recognition of this contribution which went far beyond the outlines of mere ‘knowledge creation”.
At the time of retirement he has been the Chair and Senior Professor of Physics in the University of Sri Jayewardenepura as well as the Chairmen of the National Science and Technology Commission