Nalin Samarasinha

Dr Nalin Samarasinha
Born	Sri Lanka
Residence	United States of America
Nationality	Sri Lankan
Education	Nalanda College Colombo University of Colombo University of Maryland, College Park USA
Occupation	Astronomer
Employer	Planetary Science Institute USA
Known for	first native born citizen of Sri Lanka to gain the distinction of having an Asteroid named after him
Title	Senior Scientist
Religion	Buddhist

Dr Nalin Samarasinha is a Sri Lankan born Astronomer based in United States of America. Currently he works as a Senior Scientist for Planetary Science Institute.^[1][2][3]

Early life

Nalin earned a BSc First Class Honours in Physics from University of Colombo after schooling at Nalanda College Colombo. Later he gained a MSc in astronomy from University of Maryland, College Park USA and followed it up furthering studies graduating with a PhD in Astronomy from the same University in USA.^[4]

First Sri Lankan citizen

In 2002, The International Astronomical Union renamed Asteroid (12871) 1998 ML37 found by Lowell Observatory as Asteroid (12871) Samarasinha in honour of Dr Nalin Samarasinha. Dr Samarasinha is the first native born citizen of Sri Lanka to gain the distinction of having an Asteroid named after him.^[5]

12871 Samarasinha

References

1. “Anuradhapura”, another far off Asteroid
2. Lankan astronomer’s voyage of discovery with Comet Hartley 2
3. Nalin Samarasinha
4. Nalin Samarasinha
5. Celestial honour for Lankan astronomer

• "Comet ISON and Mars imaged together during close approach". phys.org.

• "Dr.Nalin Samarasinha: What Comets Can Teach Us". wordpress.com.

• "Kitt Peak National Observatory Visitor Center and Museum". noao.edu.

• "Bringing Hot Topics in Astronomy into the Classroom". noao.edu.

• "NASA Comet ISON Observing Campaign".

• "Overview of Dr. Nalin Samarasinha's ISON morphology campaign" (PDF). isoncampaign.org.

• "Sigiriya: Asteroid that’s far away". colomboherald.

• "Nalanda College Alumni (Academics)". Nalanda College Colombo.