Somasundaram Selvanayagam (28 May 1932 – 23 May 1979) was a

Ceylon Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Pr ...

geographer, academic and head of the Department of Geography at the

University of Jaffna The University of Jaffna ( ta, யாழ்ப்பாணப் பல்கலைக்கழகம், translit=Yāḻppāṇap Palkalaikkaḻakam; si, යාපනය විශ්වවිද්‍යාලය, ''Yāpanaya Viśvavidyālaya''; ...

Early life

Selvanayagam was born on 28 May 1932. He was educated at

Jaffna Hindu College Jaffna Hindu College ( ta, யாழ்ப்பாணம் இந்துக் கல்லூரி, translit=Yāḻppāṇam Intuk Kallūri; si, යාපනය හින්දු විද්‍යාලය, translit=Yāpanaya Hindu Vidyāl ...

and

Zahira College, Colombo Zahira College (commonly known as Zahira) ( si, සහිරා විදුහල, ta, சாஹிரா கல்லுரி) is an Islamic school at Colombo in Maradana, Sri Lanka. It was founded in 1892 as Al Madrasathul Zahira by notab ...

. He joined the

University of Ceylon The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka (earlier Ceylon) from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the Univer ...

, Peradeniya in 1953, graduating in 1957 with BA honours degree in geography.

Career

After graduating Selvanayagam worked for a while at the Official Languages Department. He then joined the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya as an assistant lecturer in 1951. He joined the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

(LSE) in October 1961 for postgraduate studies, graduating with a MA degree. He returned to the LSE in 1970 to continue his research, receiving a

Phd PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

in August 1971. Selvanayagam joined the

Ahmadu Bello University Ahmadu Bello University Zaria is a federal government research university in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. ABU was founded on 4 October 1962, as the pioneer university in Northern Nigeria. It was founded and named after the Sardauna of Sokoto, Al ...

's Department of Geography in 1974 as a senior lecturer. He left Ahmadu Bello in August 1977 after being appointed head of the Department of Geography at the

University of Sri Lanka The University of Sri Lanka ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා විශ්වවිද්‍යාලය, ta, இலங்கைப் பல்கலைக்கழகம்) was the public university system of Sri Lanka from 1972 to 1978. Est ...

(Jaffna campus). Selvanayagam was a fellow of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

. He died on 23 May 1979.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Selvanayagam, S. 1932 births 1979 deaths Academic staff of the University of Ceylon Academic staff of the University of Jaffna Academic staff of the University of Sri Lanka Academic staff of Ahmadu Bello University Alumni of Jaffna Hindu College Alumni of the London School of Economics Alumni of the University of Ceylon Alumni of Zahira College, Colombo Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Sri Lankan Tamil academics Sri Lankan Tamil geographers