Former Sri Lankan ambassador to Myanmar, former Kelaniya University Science Faculty Dean and former University Grants Commission member Dr.Nalin de Silva passed away at 79.
He was an influential and controversial writer and a regular contributor to newspapers on the philosophy of science and was also a political commentator. He has authored several popular books of which ‘Mage Lokaya’ is considered iconic.
He was also identified by many with “Jathika Chinthanaya” an idea proposed by writer Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekara.Born in Panadura, he had his primary education at Bauddhaloka Maha Vidyalaya, Thurstan College Colombo and secondary education at Royal College Colombo. He entered the University of Ceylon in 1963 and graduated in mathematics in 1967. De Silva entered University of Sussex in January 1969, where he obtained his doctorate in theoretical physics–cosmology – in 1970.Nalin de Silva was initially a member of the Marxist Trotskyist Lanka Sama Samaja Party and the Nava Sama Samaja Party. However in the 1980’s he renounced Marxism and embraced Sinhala Buddhist cultural ideals. His writings over the last three decades were dedicated to promoting these ideals.
