‘Champion of Change’: Prof. Siva honoured by the White House

Thursday, 20 June 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The US White House honours immigrant innovators and entrepreneurs who contribute to American economy. On 29 May 2013, Sri Lankan born scientist Prof. Sivananthan, the founder of Sivananthan Laboratories Inc. in Bolingbrook, Illinois, USA, founder of EPIR Technologies Inc. and Director of Microphysics Laboratory at University of Illinois, Chicago, was honoured by the White House as a champion of change. He was honoured for his entrepreneurship in creating American jobs along with 10 other personnel in the same category. However, a few local media are publishing controversial news items that he was honoured for his contribution to the raid on Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda, an Islamic militant group. This is absolutely wrong and misinterpreted news. Prof. Siva in an interview to Suriyakanthi Tamil News said: “It’s absolutely wrong news. If a surgical knife is used for a murder, how can we charge the manufacturer for supporting the murder? The technology which I developed is used for night vision. Night vision was used for the raid of Osama Bin Laden. It does not mean to say that I supported the raid of Osama Bin Laden.” Night vision is simply the ability to see in the dark. Infrared (IR) radiation has been used for night vision technologies for many years. IR is, like visible light, an electromagnetic wave or radiation. The human eye is capable of sensing visible light and produce the exact image of what we see (we can see colours). The light coming from an object is used to see an object during daytime or where light is available. However, in the dark there is little or no light present so we cannot see any object. However, night vision technology provides us vision through IR cameras even in the dark. With night vision, the IR radiation which is emitted from warm or hot objects is used to image the object. Any object which is above a certain temperature emits radiation. Especially when an object’s temperature lies in the range of 10 to a few 100, it emits IR radiation. For example, human body temperature is 36C, likewise birds and animals have temperatures in this range. Motor vehicles and heat generating objects like military devices emit IR radiation. This IR radiation which is emitted by these warm or hot objects is detected by devices called IR detectors or IR sensors and provides the capability of night vision. The image is similar to a photo negative. We cannot see the exact colour of the object; instead we see the image based on the temperature of the body. However, IR images are generally imaged in green. Prof. Sivananthan through his research work discovered a new type of semiconductor material based on Mercury, Cadmium, and Telluride (MCT) which is a very unique material for IR radiation detection and for night vision. He found a method by which the MCT can be grown very uniquely with high degrees of control over growth using a well-established technique called the Molecular Beam Epitaxiy (MBE). Prof. Sivananthan’s extraordinary research on these types of semiconductor materials made him think about the commercialisation of his research findings. He founded Sivavanthan Laboratories Inc. and started his business of supplying materials for high efficient photovoltaic materials. He founded EPIR Technologies in 1998. This created job opportunities in the USA, contributing to the boosting of the US economy. On 23 May 2011, the US special operations forces took on a raid and killed Osama Bin Laden, the leader of the Al-Qaeda. The operation was carried out in systematic way on a moonless night. The US forces were wearing night vision goggles equipped with IR sensors, which revealed the targets clearly. In order to make it clear, Prof. Siva discovered the material MCT which is unique for night vision applications. The US Army used the night vision technique for the raid on Osama Bin Laden. What went wrong was that a few local media have joined these two independent sentences that the material Prof. Sivananthan discovered was used for the raid on Osama Bin Laden. Night vision is used not only in US military operations but also in many other countries for many purposes, in military as well as civilian applications. Prof. Sivananthan who received his early education at Jaffna Hindu College and his B.Sc. degree from the University of Peradeniya in the early 1980s made all of us proud by being honoured a champion of change by the White House of the USA. J. Akilavasan Photochemistry Project Institute of Fundamental Studies, Kandy