Personal page and articles by Nalaka Gunawardene
Nurturing Public Trust in Times of Crisis: Reflections on April 11 Tsunami Warning
Five years ago, on a visit to the Pacific Tsunami Museum in Hilo, Hawaii, I played an interesting simulation game:...
Continue reading »Arthur C Clarke’s World of 2012: Insights from his Titanic Novel
The year was 1989. Margaret Thatcher and George Bush, Snr., were in office. Mikhail Gorbachev was slowly but surely dismantling...
Continue reading »Can Rationalists Awaken the Sleep-walking Lankan Nation?
Assorted charlatans and religious zealots across the island of Sri Lanka must have heaved a collective sigh of relief when...
Continue reading »Ari of Sarvodaya: Conscience of a Bruised Nation
Photo courtesy Sarvodaya Media Unit When Dr A T Ariyaratne, founder and president of the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement of Sri...
Continue reading »Titus Thotawatte: The Final Cut
Titus Thotawatte, 1929 – 2011 Emmanuel Titus de Silva, better known as Titus Thotawatte, was the finest editor in the...
Continue reading »Goodbye, Steve Jobs; Long Live Mavericks!
Steve Jobs would have been bemused by the many epithets assigned to him in the wake of his death on...
Continue reading »A Tale of Three Telescopes and a Blind News Media
Sir Arthur Clarke with his Celestron 14-inch telescope – photo by Rohan de Silva, circa 2001 Every newshound must survive...
Continue reading »Ray Wijewardene: An Extraordinary Thinker and Tinkerer
Ray Wijewardene in his study at Colombo home, playing with pet squirrel. Larger photo in the background is that of...
Continue reading »Elephant Walk revisited: Mixing Tea, Jumbos and Monsoons
[Editors note: For an in-depth interview on Sri Lanka's human-elephant conflict, see Humans vs. elephants: Sri Lanka’s tragic on-going conflict] If...
Continue reading »DON’T PANIC! Predicting earthquakes or triggering mass hysteria?
Photo taken during Boxing Day Tsunami, 26 December 2004 DON’T PANIC (always written in upper-case) was timeless advice that writer...
Continue reading »The Storyteller of Public Science
Tambiaiah Sabaratnam (1932 – 2011) Veteran journalist Tambiaiah Sabaratnam, who has died aged 79, was a pathfinder and leading light...
Continue reading »WikiLeaks, Swiss Banks and Alien invasions
A month ago, I wrote an open letter to the late Sir Arthur C Clarke, titled ‘Living in the Global...
Continue reading »Living in the Global Glass House: An Open Letter to Sir Arthur C Clarke
Colombo, Sri Lanka: 16 December 2010 Dear Sir Arthur, I write this on your 93rd birth anniversary. Just over a...
Continue reading »Political Satire in Sri Lanka: When Making Fun is No Laughing Matter
Review of Wimalege Colama (Wimale’s Column), a collection of satirical columns by Wimalanath Weeraratne Sinhala; 232 pp; Author publication; September...
Continue reading »Feature article: Who Speaks for Small Farmers, Earthworms and Cow Dung?
The late Ray Wijewardene in conversation with Nalaka Gunawardene Sri Lanka 2048 panel on Living with Climate Change – Ray...
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