Velupillai Appapillai (13 November 1913 – 4 July 2001) was a Sri Lankan physicist and academic. He was the dean of the Faculty of Science at the

University of Ceylon The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka (earlier Ceylon) from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the Univ ...

, Peradeniya.

Early life and family

Appapillai was born on 13 November 1913 in

Batticaloa Batticaloa (, ''Maṭṭakkaḷappu'', ; , ''Maḍakalapuwa'', ) is a major city in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, and its former capital. It is the administrative capital of the Batticaloa District. The city is the seat of the Eastern Univers ...

in eastern

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. He was educated at

Jaffna Central College Jaffna Central College ( ''Yāḻppāṇam Mattiya Kallūri'', JCC) is a national school in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Founded in 1816 by British Methodist missionaries, it is one of Sri Lanka's oldest schools. History In 1813 the Methodist's British ...

, graduating in 1931. After school he joined

Ceylon University College Ceylon University College was a public university college in Ceylon. Established in 1921, it was Ceylon's first attempt at university education. The college didn't award degrees under its own name but prepared students to sit the University of Lo ...

, Colombo, graduating with a BSc degree in physics.

Career

In 1936 Appapillai was appointed a demonstrator in physics at the Ceylon University College. He became a lecturer of physics in 1938. He carried out his doctoral research in

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

before going to the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

in 1946 to work under

P. M. S. Blackett Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett, Baron Blackett (18 November 1897 – 13 July 1974) was an English physicist who received the 1948 Nobel Prize in Physics. In 1925, he was the first person to prove that radioactivity could cause the nuclear tr ...

, Langworthy Professor of Physics. Appapillai's work on the composition and origin of cosmic rays at sea level in Colombo earned him a PhD from 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 ...

. After returning to Ceylon Appapillai collaborated with Blackett,

Arnold Wolfendale Sir Arnold Whittaker Wolfendale (25 June 1927 – 21 December 2020)GRO Register of Births: SEP 1927 6d 1198a RUGBY – Arnold W. Wolfendale, mmn = Hoyle''The Times'', 30 December 2020, p49 (Subscription required) was a British astronomer who ser ...

and

A. W. Mailvaganam Vidya Jyothi Arumugam Wisvalingam Mailvaganam, Officer of the Order of the British Empire, OBE (13 November 1906 – 25 March 1987) was a leading Ceylon Tamil physicist, academic and the dean of the Faculty of Science, University of Ceylon. ...

in establishing that Associated Penetrating Particles did not exist within the limits of measurement. He was asked in 1963 to organise and develop a new Department of Physics at the

, Peradeniya. He was dean of the Faculty of Science at the university between 1970 and 1979 when he retired. Appapillai was a fellow of the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based not-for-profit learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, physics research, research and applied physics, application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide ...

and a

Chartered Physicist Chartered Physicist (CPhys) is a chartered status and a professional qualification for physicists awarded by the Institute of Physics. It is denoted by the postnominals "CPhys". Description Achieving chartered status in any profession denotes ...

. He was a member of the Ceylon Association for the Advancement of Science, Pan Indian Ocean Science Association (PIOSA),

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

National Commission, Ceylon Standards Advisory Council and the National Science Council of Ceylon Standards. He was the PIOSA's delegate at various international science conferences in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1958 he was an observer at the

British nuclear tests at Maralinga British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and cultur ...

in Australia.

Later life

The

University of Peradeniya The University of Peradeniya (, ) is a Public research university, public university in Sri Lanka, funded by the University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka, University Grants Commission. It is the largest university in Sri Lanka, which was origin ...

appointed Appapillai an

emeritus professor ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

in 1979 and awarded him an honorary DSc degree in 1984. The

University of Jaffna The University of Jaffna (, ''Yāpanaya Wiśwawidyālaya''; ; abbreviated UoJ) is a public university in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Established in 1974 as the sixth campus of the University of Sri Lanka, it became an independent, autonomous university in 1 ...

awarded him an honorary DSc degree in October 1999. Appapillai headed a committee appointed by the University Grants Commission which recommended the establishment of the Batticaloa University College. The University of Peradeniya has named one of its annual prizes after Appapillai. Appapillai moved to the USA to live with his daughter. He died on 4 July 2001 in

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Appapillai, V. 1913 births 2001 deaths Academic staff of the University of Ceylon (Peradeniya) Academic staff of the University of Peradeniya Alumni of Jaffna Central College Alumni of the Ceylon University College Alumni of the University of Manchester American people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent Fellows of the Institute of Physics People from Batticaloa Sri Lankan academics Sri Lankan Tamil people Sri Lankan physicists