Valentine Basnayake Oration

Valentine Basnayake Oration

Professor Valentine Basnayake is the third Ceylonese Professor of Physiology after Professors A C E Koch and K N Seneviratne and brought up the physiology education to what it is now at Peradeniya. In memory of the late Professor Valentine Basnayake, the Physiological Society of Sri Lanka organizes the annual Valentine Basnayake Memorial Oration to be delivered by a distinguished physiologist, scientist or clinician.

Biography of Professor Valentine Basnayake

Professor Basnayake was born on the 1st of October 1925 and had a distinguished academic career at St Joseph's College, Colombo Medical School and at the University of Oxford. When the second medical school was established at Peradeniya in 1962 he was one of the pioneer academics who joined the staff of this fledgling medical school. After Professor R Watson (of British origin) left Peradeniya, Professor Basnayake became the next Professor of Physiology at Peradeniya. Professor Basnayake became the third Ceylonese Professor of Physiology after Professors A C E Koch and K N Seneviratne.

Professor Basnayake brought up the physiology education to what it is now at Peradeniya. He was my undergraduate teacher in Physiology, my MPhil supervisor, Head of the Department of Physiology, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Peradeniya and Professor of Physiology until his retirement in 1991 after an extremely successful academic career as a Physiologist spanning more than four decades. Out of his long academic career, 29 years have been spent in teaching Physiology at Peradeniya. Professor Basnayake possessed a unique lecturing style which his students adored very much. He was a soft spoken kind hearted gentleman wearing a white coat and was always punctual to the class. His melodious voice, flawless pronunciation and meticulous nature in which the lecture was delivered captured the hearts of his students and made unforgettable memories and subsequently cherished our feelings. He really had a practical, methodical and simplistic approach of teaching. He spelt out every keyword on the blackboard and explained the physiological principles in his characteristic gentle and soft style.

There are many things which we can talk about him but I would restrict myself to a few rare qualities he possessed which could be emulated by generations to come. He was a thoroughly genuine research worker, a born scientist and had a naturally gifted analytical mind. It was Professor Basnayake who taught us the simple and practical approach to look at scientific phenomena. He loved nature and demonstrated it in his every action and reaction. He had a tremendous observation power in natural phenomena, the basis of scientific hypotheses. The Physiological Society of Sri Lanka endowment lectures on "Commonsense Physiology" and "Everyday Physiology", the concepts coined by him vouch for this quality. He had a 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.

Professor Basnayake had a multifaceted academic career demonstrating his excellence and love for Physiology, Medical Education, Biology, Scientific Writing, Medical Statistics and later for Medical Ethics. He was truly a man ahead of his time. He introduced "objectives", "best answer MCQs", "OSPE examinations" long before these concepts were known to medical educationist community in Sri Lanka. His love for Physiology culminated with the formulation of the Physiological Society of Sri Lanka in 1987 as his brainchild. Professor Basnayake has planted the “Physiology seed” which had been harvested by others so that the benefits are available to the future generation of physiologists.

(from the felicitation citation for Prof. Valentine Basnayake written by Prof. Vajira Weerasinghe, Professor of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya published in the 25^th Anniversary souvenir of the Physiological Society of Sri Lanka)
 

Past Orations: