Osmund Bopearachchi (born 1949) is a Sri Lankan historian and

numismatist A numismatist is a specialist in numismatics ("of coins"; from Late Latin ''numismatis'', genitive of ''numisma''). Numismatists include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholars who use coins and other currency in object-based research. Altho ...

who has specialized notably standardized the coinage of the

Indo-Greek The Indo-Greek Kingdom, or Graeco-Indian Kingdom, also known historically as the Yavana Kingdom (Yavanarajya), was a Hellenistic-era Greek kingdom covering various parts of Afghanistan and the northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent ( ...

and

Greco-Bactrian The Bactrian Kingdom, known to historians as the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom or simply Greco-Bactria, was a Hellenistic-era Greek state, and along with the Indo-Greek Kingdom, the easternmost part of the Hellenistic world in Central Asia and the India ...

kingdoms. He is currently Emeritus Director of the

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,63 ...

at the

École Normale Supérieure École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, S ...

and Adjunct Professor of Central and South Asian Art, Archaeology, and Numismatics,

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

Background

Originally from

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, Professor Bopearachchi received his Bachelor of Arts (General) Degree from the University of Kelaniya. In 1983 he joined a team of the CNRS at the École Normale Supérieure to further his studies. He received his Ph. D. in Art History and Archaeology from the

Institute of Art and Archaeology An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...

at the

Sorbonne University Paris I Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

in 1987. In 1998, he completed his

Habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including ...

at the Université de Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV).

Academic career

In 1989, he became Research Specialist (''Chargé de Recherche'') at CNRS. In 1991, Osmund Bopearachchi published an extensive work on Indo-Greek and Greco-Bactrian coinage, ''Monnaies gréco-bactriennes et indo-grecques. Catalogue raisonné'' (400 pages), which became the reference in its field. His conclusions are based on extensive numismatic analysis (find places, overstrikes, monograms,

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

, styles), classical writings, and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

n writings and epigraphic evidence. The book received the ''

Prix Mendel Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who a ...

'' (Mendel prize) for Historical Research in 1992.

Books

* O. Bopearachchi, ''Monnaies gréco-bactriennes et indo-grecques, Catalogue raisonné'', Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, 1991, 459 p., 69 pl. * O. Bopearachchi, ''Catalogue of Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian and Indo-Parthian Coins of the Smithsonian Institution'', Washington D.C., 1993, 140 p., 41 pl. * O. Bopearachchi & A. ur Rahman, ''Pre-Kushana Coins in Pakistan'', Iftikhar Rasul IRM Associates (Pvt.) Ltd., Karachi, 1995. 237 p., 76 pl. * O. Bopearachchi & W. Pieper, ''Ancient Indian Coins'', Brépols, Turnhout, Belgique, 1998, Indicopleustoi, vol. 11, 289 p., 59 pl. * O. Bopearachchi, Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum. ''Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek Coins''. The Collection of the American Numismatic Society, Part 9, New York, 1998, 94 p., 76 pl. * O. Bopearachchi & R.M. Wickremesinhhe, Ruhuna. ''An Ancient Civilisation Re-visited. Numismatic and Archaeological Evidence on Inland and Maritime Trade'', 1999, Colombo, 140 p., 3 maps, 36 pl. * O. Bopearachchi, ''An Indo-Greek and Indo-Scythian Coin Hoard from Bara (Pakistan)'', Seattle, 2003, 104 p. 33 pls. * O. Bopearachchi & Philippe Flandrin, ''Le Portrait d’Alexandre. Histoire d’une découverte pour l’humanité'', Édition du Rocher, Monaco, 2005, 267 p. 8 pls. * O. Bopearachchi, ''The Pleasure Gardens of Sigiriya. A New Approach'', Godage Book Emporium, Colombo, 2006. p. 80. (Sinhalese translation, Godage Emporium, Colombo, 2008).

References

* ''Monnaies Gréco-Bactriennes et Indo-Grecques, Catalogue Raisonné'' (in French), by Osmund Bopearachchi, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, 1991, * ''Pre-Kushana Coins in Pakistan'', Islamabad, 1995. 237 p. (with Aman ur Rahman). {{DEFAULTSORT:Bopearachchi, Osmund Living people 20th-century Sri Lankan historians Sri Lankan numismatists French National Centre for Scientific Research scientists 1949 births Historians of Sri Lanka 21st-century Sri Lankan historians University of Paris faculty Research directors of the French National Centre for Scientific Research