IEEE Newsletter - University of Peradeniya Volume 2 (March 2019) | Page 14

Interview with
Dr. Lilantha Samaranayake
01)
Sir let's start with a self introduction. Can you tell
us about your family and your childhood?
I was born in Kandy, as the eldest of the family consis ng of
three. I studied at St. Anthony's College, Kandy un l grade 5
and then moved to Dharmaraja College. My father was an
engineer and my mother looked a er us at home. My sister,
next to me studied at Hillwood College and my brother
studied at Dharmaraja college. They both are now medical
doctors.
I grew up in kind of a technical environment at home because
my father has been doing a lot of technical things at home. So
I learnt how to do simple things like wiring, carpentry,
masonry, motor mechanics, etc., by observing what my father
was doing. At the school, when I was a teenager, I was a boy
Scout and I also liked music. I could play a bit of violin and I
could sing then. I was a member of the school eastern music
group and our team won many awards in the divisional,
district and na onal level compe ons. I also got involved in
the ac vi es at the Sunday School of our village temple. I
didn't like to go for tui on. Because, in our school, we had
very good teachers who taught us the syllabus as well as the
life. I liked electronics since I was a teenager. At school, there
was a very nice teacher who taught many of the
basic electronics like transistor switching,
amplifica on etc. When I was in grade 10, I
made the first Super Heterodyne Receiver, at
that me it was MW and SW not FM, which was
working really fine and my grandfather used to
take it with him, just to show off that it was his
grandson's work.
02) How did you become interested in the
field of engineering?
As I men oned earlier also, from my childhood,
I have been doing things and my father has
been repairing almost everything at home. Even
now if we go there, he has a fully fledged
workshop at home just for his own use. Hence,
exposure to applica ons of engineering has
been my mo va on.
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IEEE Newsletter University of Peradeniya