Sri Lanka Sikhamani Thamotharam Somasekaram (22 September 1934 – 11 March 2010) was a leading Sri Lankan Tamil geographer and Surveyor General.
Thamotharam Somasekaram | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 37th Surveyor General of Sri Lanka | |
| In office 1991–1992 | |
| Preceded by | E. M. Perera |
| Succeeded by | S. Berugoda |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 22 September 1934 |
| Died | 11 March 2010 (aged 75) |
| Alma mater | Jaffna Hindu College University of Ceylon Fitzwilliam College Ohio State University |
| Profession | Surveyor |
| Ethnicity | Sri Lankan Tamil |
Early life and family
Somasekaram was born on 22 September 1934.[1] He was educated at the Jaffna Hindu College.[2][3] After school he joined the University of Ceylon, Colombo from where he graduated in 1956 with a BSc degree.[1][4][5]
Somasekaram married Sathanithi. They had three children (Damayanthi, Jayanthi and Arjun).[6][7]
Career
After university Somasekaram joined the Government Survey Department as an Assistant Superintendent of Surveys.[1][4] A year later he joined Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge in 1958 to study the Part II course in geography, which he completed in 1959.[1] On returning to Ceylon he rejoined the Survey Department.[1][4] He became Superintendent of Surveys in 1967, Assistant Surveyor General in 1971 and Deputy Surveyor General in 1973.[1][4] The latter position made in head of the Institute of Surveying and Mapping.[4]
Somasekaram joined the Ohio State University in 1976 on a United Nations Fellowship, graduating with an MSc in Geodesy and Cartography.[1][4][5]
Somasekaram became Surveyor General in 1991.[1][8] He came up with the idea of the Sri Lankan Atlas and chaired the committee charged with creating it.[1][4] He was awarded the Sri Lanka Sikhamani title, a Sri Lankan national honour, in 1990 for this work.[1]
Somasekaram was president of the Surveyors' Institute of Sri Lanka (1985–87) and the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science.[1][4][9] In 1998 he was admitted as a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Jaffna.[1][4] He was vice-president of the Organisation of Professional Associations of Sri Lanka between 1985 and 1991 and a member of the Canadian Institute of Geomatics.[4]
Later life
Somasekaram wrote a number of books after retirement.[4] Among them are: Surveying Stories,[10] and Arjuna's A-Z Street Guide.[11]