The youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner and girls’ education campaigner Malala Yousafzai now has an asteroid named after her which is in fact another feather in her cap as well as of Pakistan’s. Dr Amy Mainzer, astronomer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, USA, discovered the asteroid in the Main Belt between Mars and Jupiter which gives her the right to name it. The formal designation of the asteroid is 316201 Malala, or 2010 ML48. She said, “It is a great honour to be able to name an asteroid after Malala. My postdoctoral fellow Dr Carrie Nugent brought to my attention the fact that although many asteroids have been named, very few have been named to honour the contributions of women (and particularly women of colour).”
Mainzer also advised the young girls that science and engineering are for everyone. We desperately need the brainpower of all smart people to solve some of humanity’s most difficult problems, and we can’t afford to reject half the population. Malala deserves these words and expressions. Her cause is universal i.e., getting education is the fundamental right of everyone without any barrier and discrimination. And her cause has now taken her beyond this world.
MUHAMMAD YASIR KAYANI
Kasur