10 Facts About Mazlan Othman

Mazlan binti Othman is a Malaysian astrophysicist whose work has pioneered Malaysia's participation in space exploration.

Mazlan Othman was her country's first astrophysicist, and helped to create a curriculum in astrophysics at the national university, as well as to build public awareness and understanding of astronomy and space issues.

Mazlan Othman was appointed Director General of Angkasa, the Malaysian National Space Agency and served as the director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs in Vienna from 2007 to 2014.

Mazlan Othman attended the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand on a Colombo plan scholarship, earning a BSc.

Mazlan Othman then joined the National University of Malaysia as a tutor, but negotiated an extension to her scholarship and returned to Otago, earning her Ph.

Mazlan Othman returned to Malaysia as the country's first astrophysicist, and worked to create a curriculum in astrophysics at the national university, as well as to build public awareness and understanding of astronomy and space issues.

Mazlan Othman performed research for a semester at the Kiso Observatory in Japan.

Mazlan Othman was reappointed as UNOOSA director in 2007 by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and left Angkasa to return to the post that December.

In 2013, Mazlan Othman received the "Polarstern-Preis" from the Austrian Space Forum for her engagement to fascinate for space above and beyond duty.

Mazlan Othman has two children, a son who is an aerospace engineer and a daughter born in 1995, and two grandchildren.