Manju Gunawardene, winner of the Dassis Award at the National Innovations exhibition in 2012, won a Gold prize and Silver for his two inventions at the 41st 'Inventions Geneva' exhibition held from April 10 to 14.
Gunawardene brought honour to the country for his two inventions, developed using nanotechnology.
Manju Gunawardene on arrival at the airport
The Gold award was presented for his air purifying nano photocatalytic CFL lamp and the Silver was for the nano visible light photocatalysis based hospital infection control system.
The Gold Medal was awarded in the category of 'Food stuff, drinks, cosmetics, paramedical, health and hygiene' for the nano photocatalytic CFL lamp that sanitizes air by killing microorganisms in air without the use of any harmful sanitizers or any type of chemicals. The innovative coating on the bulb not only kills germs, but also destroys odors and harmful chemical vapors in the air.
The Silver Medal was awarded in the category of 'Medicine, surgery, hygiene, orthopedics and material for handicap.'
Gunawardene is a serial inventor from Matara. He was a student of Mahanama College and Royal College, Colombo.
In 1990, Gunawardene became the Junior Inventor of the Year of Sri Lanka for developing a formalin detector in fish.
He later developed a novel charge state monitoring system for lead acid batteries.
Gunawardene obtained his primary engineering education from the Engineering Council of UK and the post graduate qualification from the University of Houston Texas on a special scheme of research with Raytheon Aerospace.
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Sri Lankan inventor grabs Gold and Silver in Geneva