Nalin Chandra Wickramasinghe MBE (born January 20, 1939) is a British mathematician and astronomer who was born in Sri Lanka. His research focuses on topics such as the space between stars, studying objects in space that emit infrared light, how light interacts with matter, using physics to understand astronomy, the early history of our solar system, comets, the chemistry of space, the beginnings of life, and the study of life in the universe. He worked closely with Fred Hoyle for over 40 years. Together, they supported a less common scientific idea called panspermia, which suggests that life on Earth may have originated from materials in space. In 1974, they suggested that some dust found in space had similar features to frozen bacteria, but this idea was not widely accepted at the time. Scientists later found that the presence of certain chemicals in space could explain the similarity.
Wickramasinghe has proposed several unusual scientific ideas, such as the claim that some diseases on Earth, like the 1918 flu pandemic, polio outbreaks, and mad cow disease, may have originated from space. He argued that cometary dust might have carried the virus that caused the 1918 flu to Earth at the same time in multiple places. However, experts who study the 1918 flu pandemic have not supported this view. Scientists generally do not accept the idea that diseases on Earth are caused by germs from space.
Wickramasinghe has written over 40 books about astrophysics and related subjects. He has appeared on radio, television, and film programs, and he also writes articles and blogs online. He has been featured on BBC Horizon, UK Channel 5, and the History Channel. He participated in a 2013 Discovery Channel program called "Red Rain." He has a connection with Daisaku Ikeda, the leader of the Buddhist group Soka Gakkai International, which led to the publication of a discussion between them about space and the concept of eternal life. The discussion was first published in Japanese and later translated into English.
Education and career
Wickramasinghe attended Royal College, Colombo, and the University of Ceylon, where he earned a BSc First Class Honours in mathematics in 1960. He later studied at Trinity College and Jesus College, Cambridge, where he received his PhD and ScD degrees. After completing his education, Wickramasinghe worked as a Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge, from 1963 to 1973. He then became a professor of applied mathematics and astronomy at University College Cardiff.
From 1982 to 1984, he served as a consultant and advisor to the President of Sri Lanka. He also helped establish the Institute of Fundamental Studies in Sri Lanka.
After fifteen years at University College Cardiff, Wickramasinghe took a similar position at the University of Cardiff, a role he held from 1990 to 2006. After retiring in 2006, he helped start the Cardiff Center for Astrobiology as a special project for the university president. In 2011, the project closed due to budget cuts in the UK. Later, he joined the University of Buckingham as Director of the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology, a position he has held since 2011. He continues to work part-time as a professor at Cardiff University.
In 2015, he was named a Visiting Scholar at Churchill College, Cambridge, England, for two years. He is a co-founder and board member of the Institute for the Study of Panspermia and Astroeconomics, established in Japan in 2014. He also serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Astrobiology & Outreach.
Wickramasinghe has held several academic roles, including Visiting By-Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge, from 2015 to 2016; Professor and Director of the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology at the University of Buckingham since 2011; Affiliated Visiting Professor at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka; and a board member and research director at the Institute for the Study of Panspermia and Astroeconomics in Japan.
In 2017, he was appointed an adjunct professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Ruhuna, Matara, Sri Lanka.
Research
In 1960, he began his PhD studies at Cambridge University under the guidance of Fred Hoyle. In 1962, he published his first scientific paper titled "On Graphite Particles as Interstellar Grains" in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. He received his PhD in mathematics in 1963 and became a Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, the same year. In 1964, he joined the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge, where he continued researching interstellar dust. His work led to studies on carbon-containing dust particles, in addition to earlier models that focused on silicate materials.
In 1967, Wickramasinghe wrote the first book specifically about interstellar grains. He has contributed over 350 scientific papers, with more than 75 published in the journal Nature. Along with Fred Hoyle, he proposed a theory called panspermia, which suggests that life forms from space may have entered Earth’s atmosphere and could be linked to disease outbreaks, new illnesses, and genetic changes necessary for the evolution of complex life.
Wickramasinghe and Hoyle worked together for many years. Their research on panspermia and the idea that life originated in space has been controversial and is not widely accepted by scientists in astronomy or biology. Some of their claims, such as the detection of interstellar cellulose between 1977 and 1981, were criticized as pseudoscience. Phil Plait, a science writer, has described Wickramasinghe as a "fringe scientist" who makes claims about space without strong evidence.
In 1974, Wickramasinghe proposed that some dust in space contains organic materials. He later confirmed this idea through additional research. He also discovered and confirmed the presence of complex compounds made from formaldehyde (H₂CO). Later, he and Hoyle identified bicyclic aromatic compounds in space by analyzing ultraviolet light absorption patterns, showing that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecules exist in space.
Throughout his career, Wickramasinghe and Hoyle supported the panspermia hypothesis, which suggests that life on Earth may have come from space. Their model of panspermia includes the idea that viruses and genetic material like DNA and RNA can survive in space and that asteroids and comets can carry these materials to Earth. They also believed that collisions between space objects can spread life across star systems. A major point of disagreement with other scientists is their claim that viruses and bacteria from space may have caused major disease outbreaks in human history.
Later in their collaboration, Wickramasinghe and Hoyle suggested that life first formed near the center of the Milky Way galaxy before being spread across the galaxy through panspermia. They also believed this process could happen in other galaxies.
In 2001, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched a balloon from Hyderabad, India, to collect dust from the stratosphere at 41 km (135,000 feet) to test for living cells. Wickramasinghe worked with a team of UK scientists on this project. In 2002, a paper presented at a conference in San Diego claimed to find evidence of living microbes at that altitude. However, the experiment did not prove whether these microbes came from space or were carried upward from Earth.
In 2005, ISRO repeated the experiment and reported finding three new types of bacteria, including one named Janibacter hoylei in honor of Fred Hoyle. However, these findings do not prove that Earth’s bacteria originated in space. Other scientists have also studied stratospheric samples and found radiation-resistant bacteria at high altitudes, but they have not linked these discoveries to panspermia. Wickramasinghe also worked with others to study the red rain in Kerala, India.
Wickramasinghe and Hoyle have argued that some disease outbreaks on Earth, such as the 1918 flu pandemic, polio, and mad cow disease, may have come from space. They suggested that cometary dust brought the 1918 flu virus to Earth at multiple locations, but this idea has been widely rejected by experts.
In 2003, Wickramasinghe and others published a letter in The Lancet claiming that the SARS virus might have an extraterrestrial origin instead of coming from chickens. The journal responded with three letters that questioned the lack of evidence for this claim. Scientists have not accepted the idea that Earth’s diseases are caused by space-born microbes.
In 2020, Wickramasinghe and colleagues claimed that the virus causing the COVID-19 pandemic may have come from space. This claim was criticized for not having enough evidence.
In 2012, a green fireball was seen in Sri Lanka, and fragments fell to Earth. Rock samples were sent to the University of Cardiff, where Wickramasinghe’s team claimed they found extraterrestrial diatoms. Papers published in 2013 described these findings, but experts in meteoritics said the rocks were actually fulgurites formed by lightning on Earth. Other scientists confirmed that the diatoms found were common on Earth.
Wickramasinghe and his team responded by using X-ray analysis, oxygen isotope testing, and microscope studies to argue that the rocks were meteorites. However, these claims were criticized for not proving the rocks were from space.
In 2018, Wickramasinghe and over 30 scientists published a paper in Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology titled "Cau…" (the text cuts off here).
Participation in the creation-evolution debate
Wickramasinghe and his mentor Fred Hoyle used their research to support the idea of cosmic ancestry, which suggests that life may have originated from space, rather than from non-living matter through a process called abiogenesis.
The universe appears to be structured in a way that supports life, and this pattern is observed on an extremely large scale. Some people believe these ideas are too unusual to be taken seriously, while others argue that attempts to explain the universe's complexity through simple laboratory experiments will not succeed.
Wickramasinghe presented scientific evidence to support the theory of cosmic ancestry and the possibility that the universe contains many levels of intelligence, which may eventually lead to a concept of God as an ideal limit.
During the 1981 scientific creationist trial in Arkansas, Wickramasinghe was the only scientist testifying for the defense, which supported the idea of creationism. He also claimed that the Archaeopteryx fossil was a forgery, a statement that the scientific community has described as "absurd" and "ignorant."
Honours and awards
In the 2022 New Year Honours, Wickramasinghe was given the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his work in science, astronomy, and astrobiology.