Chandra Wickramasinghe

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Chandra Wickramasinghe : biography

20 January 1939 –

Extraterrestrial microbes

On May 24, 2003 The Lancet published a letter from Wickramasinghe, jointly signed by Milton Wainwright and Jayant Narlikar, in which they hypothesized that the virus that causes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) could be extraterrestrial in origin and not originated from chickens. The Lancet subsequently published three responses to this letter, showing that the hypothesis was not evidence-based, and casting doubts on the quality of the experiments referenced by Wickramasinghe in his letter.

Wickramasinghe was also involved in coordinating in collaborations with Godfrey Louis.

Books

  • Interstellar Grains (Chapman & Hall, London, 1967)
  • Light Scattering Functions for Small Particles with Applications in Astronomy (Wiley, New York, 1973)
  • Solid-State Astrophysics (ed. with D.J. Morgan) (D. Reidel, Boston, 1975)
  • Interstellar Matter (with F.D. Khan & P.G. Mezger) (Swiss Society of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 1974)
  • The Cosmic Laboratory (University College of Cardiff, 1975)
  • Lifecloud: The Origin of Life in the Universe (with Fred Hoyle) (J.M. Dent, London, 1978)
  • Diseases from Space (with Fred Hoyle) (J.M. Dent, London, 1979)
  • Origin of Life (with Fred Hoyle) (University College Cardiff Press, 1979)
  • Space Travellers: The Bringers of Life (with Fred Hoyle) (University College Cardiff Press, 1981)
  • Evolution from Space (with Fred Hoyle) (J.M. Dent, London, 1981) ISBN 978-0-460-04535-3
  • Is Life an Astronomical Phenomenon? (University College Cardiff Press, 1982) ISBN 9780906449493
  • Why Neo-Darwinism Does Not Work (with Fred Hoyle) (University College Cardiff Press, 1982) ISBN 9780906449509
  • Proofs that Life is Cosmic (with Fred Hoyle) (Institute of Fundamental Studies, Sri Lanka, Memoirs no.1, 1982)
  • From Grains to Bacteria (with Fred Hoyle) (University College Cardiff Press, 1984) ISBN 9780906449646
  • Fundamental Studies and the Future of Science (ed.) (University College Cardiff Press, 1984) ISBN 9780906449578
  • Living Comets (with Fred Hoyle) (University College Cardiff Press, 1985) ISBN 9780906449790
  • Archaeopteryx, the Primordial Bird (with Fred Hoyle) (Christopher Davies, Swansea, 1986) ISBN 9780715406656
  • The Theory of Cosmic Grains (with Fred Hoyle) (Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1991) ISBN 9780792311898
  • Life on Mars? The Case for a Cosmic Heritage (with Fred Hoyle) (Clinical Press, Bristol, 1997) ISBN 9781854570413
  • Astronomical Origins of Life: Steps towards Panspermia (with Fred Hoyle) (Kluwer, Dordrecht, 2000) ISBN 9780792360810
  • Cosmic Dragons: Life and Death on Our Planet (Souvenir Press, London, 2001) ISBN 9780285636064
  • Fred Hoyle’s Universe (ed. with G. Burbidge and J. Narlikar) (Kluwer, Dordrecht, 2003) ISBN 9781402014154
  • A Journey with Fred Hoyle (World Scientific, Singapore, 2005) ISBN 9789812565792
  • Comets and the Origin of Life (with J. Wickramasinghe and W. Napier) (World Scientific, Hackensack NJ, 2010) ISBN 9789812814005

Honours and awards

  • Commonwealth Scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge, 1960-1963
  • , Trinity College, 1961
  • Decorated by the President of Sri Lanka with the titular honour of Vidya Jyothi, 1992
  • Honorary DLitt, Sōka University (Japan), 1996
  • Doctor of Science (honoris causa), University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka, 2004