Chandima Gomes

In November 2018, Gomes shifted to South Africa, becoming the chair of the ESKOM Power Plant Engineering Institute (EPPEI)-HVAC and a professor of high-voltage engineering at the University of Witwatersrand.

In 2014, with over 10 years of research, Gomes made an explanation on the lightning protection technology of ancient Sri Lankan Buddhist monuments, called stupa; very large hemispherical/conical buildings constructed 1500–2000 years ago. Although the Mahawamsa, the "Great Chronicle" of Sri Lankan history, written in the first few centuries A.D., has also mentioned that these stupa have been provided with lightning protection by Sri Lankan kings, until Chandima's work there was no scientifically sound explanation given on the methodology.

Gomes started his career as an engineering consultant in lightning protection and EMI/EMC in the early 2000 and gradually became a trainer on the subject. In 2010 he shifted to Malaysia as a professor of electrical engineering, at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), where he played a key role in establishing the Centre for Electromagnetic and Lightning Protection (CELP) of which Chandima became the first head of the institute. The CELP, the first of its kind in Asia, is dedicated to research, education, awareness and training on lightning-related engineering and physics.

From 1999 to 2009, while working as a senior academic and a researcher at UoC, Gomes was involved with several projects in promoting lightning safety and protection in the South Asian region. He was also involved with many commissions in Sri Lanka such as being the chairman of the Young Scientists Forum of NASTEC, chairman of the Committee on developing National Policy on Lightning Protection, and Sri Lanka Telecommunication Regulatory Commission's National Policy on Antenna Structures.

Gorakanage Arosha Chandima Gomes was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 12 September 1966. He had his education up to secondary level at Royal College and then proceeded to University of Colombo, where he studied for a special degree in physics. In 1993 he passed out from UoC with first-class honours degree in the field of physics. Soon after his first degree, Gomes joined the UoC as a lecturer in physics and started a joint PhD program with Uppsala University, Sweden. At Uppsala University, he did research in several fields such as lightning physics, high-voltage engineering, discharge physics etc. under the supervision of Vernon Cooray. In 1999, he received his PhD and returned to Sri Lanka. Chandima is also a chartered engineer and Chartered Physicist registered in the UK.