Kumar Wickramasinghe facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kumar Wickramasinghe
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Born |
Hemantha Kumar Wickramasinghe
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Alma mater | King's College London (BSc) University College London (PhD) |
Known for | Scanning thermal microscopy |
Awards | Joseph F. Keithley Award For Advances in Measurement Science (2000) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Scanning probe microscopy Nanotechnology Nanobiotechnology |
Institutions | University of California, Irvine |
Thesis | Two and Three Dimensional Acoustic Holography in Solids (1974) |
Doctoral advisor | Eric Ash |
Hemantha Kumar Wickramasinghe is a very important scientist. He is a professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California, Irvine. He is known for his work with tiny things, like atoms and molecules.
Education and Early Life
Hemantha Kumar Wickramasinghe studied at two famous universities in London, England. He earned his first degree, a Bachelor of Science (BSc), in Electronic and Electrical Engineering from King's College London in 1970. Later, in 1974, he received his PhD from University College London. A PhD is the highest university degree you can get. His teacher there was a scientist named Eric Ash.
Amazing Discoveries and Awards
Professor Wickramasinghe is famous for his work in nanotechnology. This is a field of science that deals with incredibly small things, often at the size of atoms. He helped create new ways to see and measure these tiny objects. One of his inventions is called Scanning thermal microscopy. This special microscope can measure temperature differences on a very small scale.
In 2000, he received a special honor called the Joseph F. Keithley Award For Advances in Measurement Science. This award is given to scientists who make big improvements in how we measure things.
He was also chosen to be a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2019. Being a Fellow of the Royal Society is a huge honor for scientists in the United Kingdom. It means he is recognized as one of the best scientists in the world.
Family Connections
Hemantha Kumar Wickramasinghe has a brother who is also a well-known scientist. His brother, Chandra Wickramasinghe, is a famous mathematician, astronomer, and astrobiologist. An astrobiologist studies life in the universe, including on other planets.