Deshabandu Deshabandhu (; ) is the third highest Sri Lankan honours system, national honour awarded in Sri Lanka. It is awarded "for meritorious service". The title is held by no more than 150 living holders at any time. It is conferred with a citation and ...

Arumadura Nandasena Silva Kulasinghe (1919-2006) was a Sri Lankan Civil Engineer and founder of several engineering organisations in Sri Lanka.

Early life and education

Kulasinghe was born in Udammita in

Ja-Ela Ja-Ela (, ) is a town, located approximately north of the city centre of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Ja-Ela lies on the A3 highway (Sri Lanka), A3 road which overlaps with the E03 expressway (Sri Lanka), Colombo – Katunayake Expressway at the Ja-Ela I ...

on 26 October 1919. He first studied at Wadduwa English Boys College and then moved to Mari Stella College, Negombo thereafter he entered to St. Benedicts' College Kotahena for his advanced level studies. He entered the

Ceylon Technical College Maradana College of Technology is the oldest technical college in Sri Lanka. Formally known as the Ceylon Technical College which was an institution of higher education for Technical and Scientific fields in Ceylon and a government department. It ...

to study for the BSc in Engineering of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, there he won the Sri Chandrasekera Scholarship. Graduating in 1936, he gained Associate Membership of the Institution of Civil Engineers (AMICE) in 1946.

Career

In 1940, Kulasinghe joined the Norton Bridge Hydro Power Project as a Technical Assistant. In 1944, he joined

Colombo Harbour The Port of Colombo , (known as Port of Kolomtota during the early 14th Century Kotte Kingdom) is the largest and busiest port in Sri Lanka and the Indian Ocean. Located in Colombo, on the southwestern shores on the Kelani River, it serves as ...

as a junior assistant engineer. Kulasinghe focused on cost technologies, innovative construction techniques and utilisation of local resources in his Engineering pursuits. His pioneering efforts and contributions in the areas of Pre-cast concrete, Pre-stressed concrete, alternate low cost construction material, ferro-cement boat building, applications of the Shell design theory in the construction are applied in several key engineering structures in Sri Lanka. In 1962 he became the founder chairman and general manager of the State Engineering Corporation of Ceylon while serving as Director of State Hardware Corporation, Ceylon Steel Corporation, Lanka Leyland Ltd., Colombo Low Lying Areas Reclamation Board, Ceylon Tyre Corporation and Council Member of Ceylon Bureau of Standards; Member, Board of Regents

Vidyalankara University The University of Kelaniya (UoK; , ) is a public university in Sri Lanka. Just outside the municipal limits of Colombo, in the city of Kelaniya, the university has two major institutions and seven faculties. History The University of Kelaniya ...

. Having been appointed as Chief Engineer, Colombo Port Commission in 1963 he was appointed Commissioner of the Colombo Port Commission in 1968. He retired from the State Engineering Corporation in 1971 and left the country returning in 1977. He was a devout Buddhist and helped construct the Kotmale Mahaweli Maha Seya and the Buddha Jayanthi Chaithya at the Colombo harbour. Also, the Polgolla Bund, State Engineering Corporation head office and the Colombo Planetarium were also designed by Kulasinghe.

Personal life

In 1946 Kulasinghe married Dulcie de Silva. They had two sons.

Notable positions held

*Founder Chairman of the State Engineering Corporation of Sri Lanka *Founder Chairman of the Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau of Sri Lanka *Founder Chairman of the National Engineering Research and Development of Sri Lanka * Chancellor of the

Open University of Sri Lanka The Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL; , ) is a national university in Sri Lanka. It is unique within the Sri Lankan national university system for being the only university to offer programs of study leading to certificate, diploma, degrees ...

Chancellor of the Open University of Sri Lanka *Founder Chairman of the Sri Lanka Association of the Institution of Civil Engineers *President, of The

Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka The Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka (IESL) is a multidisciplinary professional engineering institution in Sri Lanka. History It was the Director of Public Works at the time F A Cooper, who while attending a meeting while on circuit, who plan ...

in 1969 *President, National Academy of Sciences (1987)

Honors and awards

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a Charitable organization, charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters ar ...

(1957) * Fellow of the

Institution of Mechanical Engineers The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is an independent professional association and learned society headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that represents mechanical engineers and the engineering profession. With over 110,000 member ...

(1957) * Fellow of the

Institution of Engineers (India) The Institution of Engineers (India), the IEI, is a national organization for engineers in India. It is the world's largest multi-disciplinary engineering professional society. It has more than one million members in 15 engineering disciplines ...

(1960) * Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka (1960) * Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences Sri Lanka (1975) * President's Prize, the Institution of Engineers India, for best invention in prestressing (1960) * Doctor of Science (

Honoris Causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

) from

University of Moratuwa The University of Moratuwa (also referred as Moratuwa University) ( ''Moraṭuwa Wiśwawidyālaya'', ) is a public university in Sri Lanka. It is located on the bank of the Bolgoda Lake in Katubedda, Moratuwa, a suburb of Sri Lanka's capital C ...

(1979) * National Honour "Vidya Jyothi Class I" conferred by President

Junius Richard Jayewardene Junius Richard Jayewardene (; ; 17 September 1906 – 1 November 1996), commonly referred to by his initials JR, was a Sri Lankan lawyer, public official and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1977 to 1978 and as the secon ...

on the Independence Commemoration Day, 4 February 1986 * Conferred the degree of Doctor of Engineering (Honoris Causa) by the Open University of Sri Lanka −2000 * Awarded the title

by President

Chandrika Kumaratunga Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (; ; born 29 June 1945), commonly referred to by her initials CBK, is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the fifth President of Sri Lanka, President of Sri Lanka from 12 November 1994 to 19 November 2005. ...

−2005

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kulasinghe, A. N. S. 1919 births 2006 deaths Alumni of University of London Worldwide Alumni of the University of London Alumni of Maris Stella College Alumni of the Maradana College of Technology Sri Lankan civil engineers Sri Lankan academics Sri Lankan Buddhists Sinhalese people Sri Lankan engineers Deshabandu