[1][2] After school he joined Ceylon University College, graduating in 1923 with first class BSc honours degree in science.

[1][3] He then joined Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1924, obtaining an MA honours degree in Natural Science Tripos in 1928.

[3] He became a professor of physics in 1939 and served Dean of the Faculty of Science, University of Ceylon between 1948 and 1954.

[3] In the 1949 Birthday Honours Mailvaganam was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

[1] Mailvaganam was president of the Ceylon Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the University Grants Commission and Board of Governors of the Institute of Fundamental Studies.