Guwahati: An asteroid has been named after an 18-year old Indian-origin girl Nandini Sarma for winning the first place in a science project that advocates garlic as a replacement for synthetic chemical food preservatives.

The asteroid, discovered on November 21, 2000 by the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (Linear) team in Socorro, US, has been named as ‘23228 Nandinisarma’.

 

Linear, a programme of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in collaboration with US Science Service and with the approval of International Astronomical Association has named the asteroid as an honour to her for winning the first place in the 2007 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair for her microbiology project.

 

Nandini, an American citizen, has been conducting research to find solutions to common health hazards and her prize-winning research focussed on natural food preservatives. She has proved that garlic can effectively replace synthetic chemical preservatives.

 

Nandini, who originally hails from Assam and is currently visiting her grandparents at Pathshala in Barpeta district, said she was happy with the honour.