Linnean Medal, the ‘Nobel Prize’ for naturalists won by old Thomian Rohan Pethiyagoda
The Linnean Society of London was established in the year 1888 in the nineteenth century. The Linnean Medal is awarded annually to alternately a botanist or a zoologist as has been common since 1958 to one of each in the same year. It is with great pride and delight that we inform our fraternity that our very own Rohan Pethiyagoda who was awarded the prestigious Linnean Medal at a ceremony organised by the Linnean society in London recently. The Linnean medal is commonly regarded as the ‘Nobel Prize’ for naturalists, owing to renowned naturalists such as Charles Darwin and Richard Dawkins already being associated with this award. Rohan Pethiyagoda, a taxonomist which is the branch of science associated with classifications, especially of organisms received the Zoology award of the Linnean Society, it is learned that he is the only second Asian to receive this accolade of special honour.
Rohan Pethiyagoda has contributed significantly in highlighting the very history of biodiversity in Asia, linking together scientists, artists, traveller’s and explorers in both East and West. He has catalogued and brought to the fore a celebration of foreign engagement, predominantly from the West, that revealed in the biodiversity of South Asia and Southeast Asia, tracing and researching these subjects as far back as the 17th Century. His publishing house Wildlife Heritage Trust (WHT) has produced biographies, memoirs of notable naturalists from the region. To celebrate the 300th anniversary of Linnaeus, Pethiyagoda authored Pearls, Spices and Green Gold, a WHT book that celebrates many notable contributors to the wildlife of Sri Lanka and South Asia, including among many now, the not widely known Ernst Haeckel. Pethiyagoda has been solely responsible for the discovery, with descriptions of almost 100 new species of vertebrates from Sri Lanka, including fishes, amphibians and lizards, in addition to 43 species of freshwater crabs.
In addition to the above work, Rohan Pethiyagoda is also a great advocate for research, who has spoken out against bureaucratic processes such as the Convention of Biological Diversity, which seeks to protect the world against Biopiracy but has severely restricted one’s ability to conduct their research in Sri Lanka, with near impossible-to-obtain permits being mandated.
Rohan Pethiyagoda had left S. Thomas’ in year 1974 and obtained his B.Sc (Eng.) Hons. in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from King’s College, London in year 1977; followed with his M.Phil. in Biomedical Engineering, from the University of Sussex in 1980. From 1981 to 1982 Pethiyagoda had served as an engineer in the Division of Biomedical Engineering of the Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka, and from 1982 to 1987 as director of that institution. In 1984 he was concurrently appointed Chairman of Sri Lanka’s Water Resources Board. He served as Advisor on Environment and Natural Resources to the Government of Sri Lanka from 2002 to 2004 and was in 2005 elected Deputy Chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. In 2008 Pethiyagoda was elected to the board of trustees of the International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature, having previously served a four-year term as Deputy Chair of the Assurance Group of the British American Tobacco Biodiversity Partnership. In 2009 he was appointed a Research Associate of the Australian Museum, Sydney, and from 2015 to 2018 he served as Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tea Board. He was also Chief Guest at the College Science Exhibition in 2018.
Thomians young and old would unite in wishing Rohan Pethiyagoda for further enhance recognition for his untiring efforts in biological research, would be inspired to learn more and take positive action in the protection of nature’s rich resources.
