Sachithanantham Sri Kantha (born 8 May 1953) is a Sri Lanka-born scientist, historian and bilingual author who mainly focuses on science writing for the general public. Among his books are Prostitutes in Medical Literature: An Annotated Bibliography and An Einstein Dictionary. He has been residing in Japan since 1986, and became a naturalised Japanese citizen in 2016.
Education A native of Point Pedro, Sri Lanka, Sachi Sri Kantha received his early education in 1960s at the Colombo Hindu College (Bambalapitiya and Ratmalana) and at the Aquinas University College, Colombo. In 1972, he entered University of Colombo and graduated in zoology in 1976. During his undergraduate days, he was active in Tamil student drama circle, and held the presidency of University of Colombo Tamil Society during 1974–75, when it celebrated its Golden Jubilee. Subsequently, he earned his master's degree in biochemistry from University of Peradeniya (1980). While at this university, Sri Kantha also actively engaged students in Tamil dramas by directing a few in cultural festivals. For doctoral studies, Sri Kantha left for USA in 1981 and earned his first Ph.D. in Food Chemistry from University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign (1986). Then, he moved to Japan as a Monbusho scholar at the University of Tokyo during 1986–88 and was awarded a second Ph.D. in Marine Biochemistry in 1989.
Career During his second post-doctoral stint (1989–90) at the then Medical College of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Sri Kantha collected material for his first reference book. Prostitutes in Medical Literature: an annotated bibliography (1991). David Friedrichs, reviewing this work for the American Reference Books Annual 1992, indicated, "Currently, of course, there is intense concern with prostitution as a source for the transmission of AIDS. Accordingly, the extensive list of relevant items will be exceptionally useful to researchers." Vern Bullough and Lilli Sentz annotated this book as, "Is somewhat broader than the title indicates and includes general and history, anthropology, sociology, psychology and mental health. Particularly good on sexually transmitted diseases." After moving to Japan in 1991 to join the group of Osamu Hayaishi (1991–94) at the Osaka Bioscience Institute, Sri Kantha worked on his second reference book, An Einstein Dictionary (1996). This work received mixed reviews. While George Eberhart recommended ‘this volume is useful as a quick fact-finder’ and Laurie Brown found it ‘more interesting reading, because of its colorful entries and extensive bibliography and index’, C.D. Hurt criticized it for ‘inequalities in the typeface fonts between the main text and disconcerting tables’ Since 2000, Sri Kantha joined the academia as an associate professor at the Gifu University and had continued his career as visiting professor at the Kyoto University Primate Research Institute (2002–05) and Gifu Pharmaceutical University (2006–10). He returned to the Center for General Education, Gifu University, again as an associate professor, from 2010 to 2016, and continued as a visiting professor at the United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences (UGSAS), Gifu University, teaching science paper writing and researcher ethics for graduate students, until 2018. In 2000, he received recognition in the reference work Contemporary Authors series. Since 2020, Sri Kantha has an affiliation as adjunct visiting professor at the Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya City University, Japan.
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