Muttaiya and Indrani Sundaralingam, an American couple who were killed Dec. 26 when tsunamis hit the Sri Lankan beach where they were vacationing, had ties to many places in the world, including Pittsburgh.

Mr. Sundaralingam, who was born in Taiping, Malaysia, in 1931, earned his bachelor of science degree in chemistry in 1956 at the University of Ceylon (Ceylon being the name then for the island nation of Sri Lanka).

Two years later, at age 26, he took a steam ship to the United States and in 1961, earned his doctorate in chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh. He would go on to hold positions at several prestigious universities, including the University of Washington, Case Western Reserve University and the University of Wisconsin.

He become a leader in his field of X-ray crystallography, the study of the molecular structure of nucleic acids and proteins that are the basic building blocks of life. He published more than 350 papers in journals including Science and Nature. In fact, he was among the top 300 most-cited scientists for work he published from 1965 to 1978, a distinction noted when Pitt honored him in 1986 with an Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award and again in 2002 when Pitt's department of chemistry honored him as one of three distinguished alumni.

He had retired in 2002 but was still researching and writing as an emeritus professor at Ohio State University, where the eminent scholar had worked since 1990.

Mr. Sundaralingam and his wife, Indrani -- ages 73 and 63, respectively -- lived in the Columbus suburb of Upper Arlington. They were escaping the winter weather on their vacation to Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, which is where Mrs. Sundaralingam was born. Their marriage had been arranged on the island as well.

Mrs. Sundaralingam -- known as Indra -- attended India's Madras University and came to the United States in 1966. She worked, including as a real estate agent, but mainly raised the couple's three children.

Their daughter and son-in-law, Sharmini and Shiva Shanker and their children, also of Upper Arlington, Ohio, had been vacationing with them for the past several weeks, but were elsewhere on Sri Lanka when the huge waves hit the island's eastern coast on Dec. 26.

Colleagues and friends praised Mr. Sundaralingam, or Sunda as he was known, in stories that appeared in various newspapers. University of Wisconsin-Madison professor George Reed, who met Mr. Sundaralingam in the late 1980s, described him in the Wisconsin State Journal as "an entertaining fellow, extremely bright, extremely competent."

Prabir Dutta, chairman of the OSU chemistry department, told The Associated Press, "He had a very high profile. We'll miss him."

In addition to daughter Sharmini, the Sundaralingams are survived by sons Mohan of Upper Arlington, Ohio, and Rohan of Chicago.

Mr. Sundaralingam also is survived by survived by seven brothers and one sister, who live all over the world. Mrs. Sundaralingam also is survived by five brothers in Madison, Wis., and a sister in Columbus. .

The family held a private funeral service yesterday and could not be reached, but noted in paid death notices that the "tragic loss" of the couple "can only be comforted by the thoughts that they perished together in the island that they knew as their homeland."

Memorial donations may be made to Doctors Without Borders, 333 Seventh Ave., Second Floor, New York, NY 10001-5004 or to UNICEF, 333 E. 38th St., New York, NY 10016.