V. K. Samaranayake

Vidya Jyothi V. K. Samaranayake, MBCS, MCS(SL), FNASSL, MIEEE (Sinhala:වී.කේ.සමරනායක) (1939 – 6 June 2007) pioneered computing & IT development industry and usage in Sri Lanka and thus considered as the "Father of Information Technology" in Sri Lanka. He was a Professor of Computer Science and former Dean of the Faculty of Science, University of Colombo. Prof Samaranayake played a major role in the development of IT and IT related education in Sri Lanka. He was at the time of his death the chairman of the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka and was the founding and former director of the University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC).

Samaranayake died in Stockholm, Sweden on 6 June 2007. The Sri Lankan Government awarded Samaranayake a funeral with state patronage at the Independence Square, Colombo on 13 June 2007, as an appreciation of the contributions and accomplishments Prof Samaranayake.

He was a Fellow of the Reuters Digital Vision Program at Stanford University in 2005.

Samaranayake served the Council for Information Technology (CINTEC), the apex National agency for IT in Sri Lanka as its chairman for a period of 12 years. In the field of IT he has pioneered work on IT Policy, Legal Infrastructure, EDI/E-Commerce, Security, Internet Technology, Computer Awareness and IT Education. In 2004 Prof. Samaranayake became the chairman of the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) the government agency governing the ICT in Sri Lanka, he held the post till his death in 2007. He was the President of the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science during its golden jubilee in 1994. At the time of his death he was the president of Infotel Lanka Society.

He was a Fellow of the Harvard Information Infrastructure Project in 2001 and Research Fellow of the National Centre for Digital Government in 2003, both at Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University.

Samaranayake was the founder of the Department of Statistics and Computer Science (DSCS) in 1985 and of the Institute of Computer Technology (ICT) of the University of Colombo in 1987. These two institutions were merged as the University of Colombo School of Computing in 2002.

After completing his education Samaranayake went on to serve the University of Ceylon (in 1974 University of Ceylon was abolished and University of Colombo created from the Colombo campus of the former university) for the next 43 years since 1961. He was appointed Professor of Mathematics and Head, Department of Mathematics in 1974 and Dean of the Faculty of Science in 1975.

Samaranayake was associated with the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy since 1969 as a UNESCO Fellow in Mathematical Physics (1969), IAEA Fellow in Mathematical Physics (1971), Associate Member (1972–1977) and a Senior Member since 1978.

Samaranayake was born to Mr. and Mrs. V. W. Samaranayake on 22 May 1939. He started his primary schooling at Ananda College and completed his secondary education with distinction at the Royal College Colombo and went on to do his higher studies at the University of Ceylon. He graduated with a BSc in Special Mathematics (First Class Honors) in 1961 and then proceeded to England for his post-graduate studies on a Ceylon Government Scholarship for Mathematics. He received a Diploma of Imperial College from Imperial College and a PhD from King's College London, both in the field of Mathematical Physics.