Michael Aung-Thwin

Michael Arthur Aung-Thwin (1946 – August 14, 2021; Burmese: မိုက်ကယ်အောင်သွင် ) was a Burmese American historian and emeritus professor at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, specializing in early Southeast Asian and Burmese history.

Aung-Thwin was born in Rangoon, Burma (now Yangon, Myanmar) in 1946. Aung-Thwin's mother, Margaret Hope Aung-Thwin, of mixed Anglo-Burmese, Karen, and Arakanese descent, was a Fulbright scholar and lecturer. He attended Kodaikanal International School in South India, where his mother taught. He earned a bachelor of arts degree at Doane College in 1969, followed by a master of arts degree at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1971, and a PhD at the University of Michigan.

Aung-Thwin held academic posts at Elmira College, Kyoto University, Northern Illinois University, the National University of Singapore (NUS), and the University of Hawaii-Manoa. He served as the Director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Illinois University. In 2018, he was awarded the George E. Bogaars endowed professorship at NUS.

Aung-Thwin died at his home in Hawaii on August 14, 2021, after a long illness.

• Pagan: The Origins of Modern Burma (1985)
• Myth & history in the historiography of early Burma (1998)
• The Mists of Ramanna: The Legend that was Lower Burma (2005)
• A History of Myanmar Since Ancient Times: Traditions and Transformations (2013)
• Myanmar in the Fifteenth Century: A Tale of Two Kingdoms (2017)

Aung-Thwin was married to Maria, and had two children, Maitrii and Amita. Maitrii Aung-Thwin is a Burmese American historian and professor at NUS.