D. J. Wimalasurendra
| D. J. Wimalasurendra | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 17 September 1874 Galle, Ceylon |
| Died | 10 August 1953 (aged 78) Ceylon |
| Alma mater | Ananda College Colombo Faraday House, Great Britain |
| Occupation | Engineer and Statesman |
Devapura Jayasena Wimalasurendra (17 September 1874-1953) was a Sri Lankan engineer and statesman. He played a prominent role in the establishment of hydropower in Sri Lanka and is known as the "Father of Hydropower" and was a member of the State Council of Ceylon.
Born in 1874 in Galle, as the eldest son of master craftsman Mudaliyar Don Juan Wimalasurendra. He received his education at Ananda College, Colombo and join the Ceylon Technical College in 1893, while working as an apprentice at the Government Factory. He first to graduate in Civil Engineering from the Ceylon Technical College and gain Associate Membership of the Institution of Civil Engineers (AMICE). In 1912, Wimalasurendra attended Faraday House in Stevenage, England specializing in electrical engineering and gain the Faraday House Diploma in seven months also gaining Associate Membership of the Institution of Electrical Engineers in Britain.
In 1896 he joined the Public Works Department as a field overseer was promoted to an Inspector within four years. Having become a Junior Assistant Engineer by 1900, he worked on building the concentration camp in Diyatalawa for Bore prisoners captured in the Second Boer War and in 1901 he conducted a survey on mineral deposits in the Kelani Valley.
Having had his initial proposals on hydro power ignored by the Engineering Association of Ceylon he constructed the first Ceylon's small hydro power station in at Blackpool, between Nanu Oya and Nuwara Eliya, to supply electricity to the Nuwara Eliya town. In 1918 he submitted a paper to the Engineering Association of Ceylon titled "Economics of Hydro Power Utilization in Ceylon", in it he proposed the possibility of hydro power from Maskelioya and Kehelgamuoya capable of lighting 100,000 lamps (114.5 MW) and the concept of developing a national grid.
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