MIT names planets after Kovai girls

P. Senthalir and S. Sharanya received letters a couple of days ago from the MIT, which stated that two minor planets discovered by the LINEAR programme of MIT Lincoln Laboratory had been named after them.

Minor planet no. 17,091 is named after Senthalir, daughter of Paramathma and Vasanthi while planet 17,092 has been named after Sharanya. This is in recognition of their achievement as finalists in the 2003 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair held in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, from May 11 to 17.

At the fair, the duo, then standard XI students of Avila Convent in Coimbatore, had presented a research paper on ‘Suppression of Branching Pattern in Eucalyptus Trees’. They proved their hypothesis that growth could be suppressed using neem oil, which fetched them the rare honour. They won the Fourth Grand Award in the competition.

‘‘Not even in my wildest dreams did I think that I would have a planet in my name,’’ said Senthalir. Sharanya, now a student of Coimbatore Institute of Technology, is doing her second year in Information Technology. Senthalir too is a student of IT at Kumaraguru College of Technology.