Dr. Suppiah Senthi Shanmuganathan

Dr. Shanmuganathan was awarded B. Sc( Special Degree) with First Class Honours in 1950 from the University of Ceylon. He was recipient of theBhikajiFramji Khan Gold Medal for the best performance at the Special degree examination in Chemistry, University of Ceylon. He joined the Medical Research Institute (MRI) in 1951 and proceeded to Sheffield University U. K for his Ph. D. degree. He returned to Sri Lanka and assumed duties at the Biochemistry Section of the MRI.

It was felt that middle level technical personnel in many institutions do not have opportunities for further education and training. D r. Shanmuganathan recognized this gap and pioneered the initiation of the Laboratory Technician Certificate Course ( LTTC) in 1972. Subsequently, this was upgraded Diploma in Laboratory Technology in Chemistry (DLTC). This course was conducted at AquinasCollege of Higher Education until it was moved to the Institute of Chemistry Ceylon building, “Adamantane House” atRajagiriya. As tribute to Dr. Shanmuganathan I am pleased that the Annual intake for this Course is over 100. The course assists private sector laboratory personnel to obtain training and qualification for accreditation of the respective laboratory for accreditation under ISO/ IEC 17025.

Dr. Shanmuganathan was a visiting lecturer in Biochemistry at University of Ceylon. In the academic year 1969/ 1970 he supervised my Seminar Topic which was on “Colorimetry”. At that time this was new topic because the laboratory courses were on gravimetry and titrimetry only. He requested me to carry out references at the library of MRI. After the Seminar presentation I was inspired by Dr. Sanmuganahan and interested in practicing colorimetry with my c o l l e a gue Dr. S. Hettiarachchi. We found an old Hilger machine at the Physical Chemistry Laboratory. We tried this to obtain colorimetric results but failed. We went to CISIR and mentioned our failure to DR. M.A.V. Devanathan. He said that the machine is a fluorimeter and not a colorimeter.

May lord rest his soul in peace! H.D. Gunawardhana, Professor Emeritus, University of Colombo