18 year old Sataparna Mukherjee bags top NASA scholarship

Meet 18-year-old Sataparna Mukherjee, a student of Class 12 from a village around 30km from Kolkata. No she wasn't hired in any big company on a fat salary. Those headlines are tiring us out. Sataparna's story is refreshing and laudable.

Village girl Sataparna Mukherjee bags top NASA scholarship (Pic Credit: TOI)

She has been selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for its prestigious Goddard Internship Programme under the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). She stands among five scholars who have been chosen from across the world for this programme. NASA promised to fund their entire education after school.

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Sataparna will soon be out from St Judes School, Madhyamgram in Kamduni near Kolkata and will be admitted at Oxford University for pursuing graduation, post-graduation and PhD (as NASA faculty) in aerospace engineering at its London Astrobiology Centre.

It’s inspirational to know that how social media connects us with the rest of the world. Imagine you’re added to a small group on a social networking site and somehow you get the chance to be THE ONE to showcasing your talent. Yes, that's what happened to Sataparna. She joined a group in the month of May where so many other scientists were added too. She shared her thoughts on 'Black Hole Theory’ and it got picked up. She got one of the member’s attention and the person gave her NASA's official website and asked her to post related findings.

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Her paper on Black Hole Theory explains how this could be used to create a 'Time Machine'. "I am very happy to get this opportunity where I will also work as a researcher at the Nasa centre in London," she said to Times of India.

In future, Under the Goddard Internship Programme, Sataparna will be working as an employee and researcher. Her major activities will include part of the earth science and technology development programme. NASA is paying all her expenses while her stay including a sum as honorarium. Sataparna is now the youngest Indian student to be selected for such a research project. You go girl!