Prof Valentine Basnayake

Professor Valentine Basnayake, born on 1st October, 1925 had a distinguished academic career at St Josephs College and Colombo Medical School and continued at the University of Oxford for post-graduate studies. I had the good fortune of meeting Professor Basnayake in the year 1969 as a student in Physiology, exactly 36 years ago. As a student of Physiology I really experienced the practical, methodical and simplistic approach of his teaching. He spelt out every key word on the black board and explained the physiological principles in his characteristic gentle and soft style. The approach he adopted for practical classes were more interesting, as he developed a investigative approach in teaching practical skills in Physiology. In many occasions the necessary data were collected from the students themselves and discussed the data to highlight the underlying physiological Principles. It is indeed an enriching experience to the learner since the approach was totally new and innovative. It was Professor Basnayake who taught me the simple and practical approach to look at scientific phenomena. He loved nature and demonstrated it in his every action and reaction. Why I mentioned action, because, I used to see him go to the sink and wash his hands, not washing but just waiting patiently. The reason was there were some ants that were allowed to escape from being washed away by the gushing water from the tap. Why I mentioned the word reaction, because one day he was riding his Vespa scooter, a cat had crossed the path and his immediate reaction was to save the cat and as a result he was injured. These incidents amply speak his true love for life and nature. As a true and practical biologist he pioneered the school biology project that encouraged the secondary school children to learn biology and motivated to appreciate nature by a practical approach.

Prof Basnayake also showed a keen interest on playing the piano and excelled in this field along with other contemporary medical colleagues such as Professors S B Dissanayake, Senaka Bibile, S R Kottegoda, Earl Fonseka and Dr Mark Amarasinghe.

Prof Basnayake had a multifaceted academic career demonstrating his excellence and love for Physiology, Medical Education, Biology, Scientific writing, medical statistics and later in medical ethics. Starting his academic career as a lecturer in Physiology in 1949 at the Colombo medical school, he steered the CAAS (SLAAS) school biology project from 1964 to 67. Thereafter, he was appointed as the founder Professor Physiology at the Peradeniya Medical school in 1968 and later he was elected as the Dean of the Faculty for three years. He also served as the inaugural chairman of the science education committee of the NARESA where coincidentally I have the pleasure of chairing it at present. He also served on various committees on Biology Education, both nationally and internationally. In 1986 he was elected as the inaugural chairman of the Sri Lanka Association of Science and Mathematics Education. He who encouraged me to form the Physiological Society of Sri Lanka in 1987 where he was elected as the Founder President and I served as the founder secretary. In 1992 he was the President of the IOB.

Thus, when we briefly look at the academic career of Professor Basnayake, it portrays a giant academic stature through this simple and soft-spoken personality. Lastly on behalf of the IOB I salute you sir as a true biologist of mother Sri Lanka.

Fellicitation address made by Prof M T M Jiffry,
Professor of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sri Jayewardenepura at the 25th Annual Sessions of the Institute of Biology on 30 September 2005.