UAE’s first astronaut, Sharjah astrophysicist among world’s top 100 space leaders

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Wam file photo
Wam file photo

Dubai - Mansouri, the first Emirati to travel to space, shared the news on his Twitter page early Sunday, December 20.

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Dhanusha Gokulan

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Published: Sun 20 Dec 2020, 7:44 PM

Last updated: Mon 21 Dec 2020, 6:06 AM

UAE’s first astronaut Hazzaa Al Mansouri and Sharjah-based Algerian astrophysicist Dr Nidhal Guessom were named among top 100 leaders in space exploration for 2021.

Al Mansouri’s and Dr Guessoum’s contributions were recognised in a new list published by Richtopia, a digital platform ranking the achievements of leading global figures.


Mansouri, the first Emirati to travel to space, shared the news on his Twitter page early Sunday, December 20.

Previous to his appointment at the American University in Sharjah, Nidhal Guessoum taught in Kuwait and Algeria and spent two years as a post-doctoral researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.


His area of expertise is cosmic gamma-ray sources (the galactic center, accretion disks, bursts, etc.), but he has also written many articles and several books on issues related to science, education and Islam, such as ‘Islamic Astronomy’ - the crescent observation problem, the Islamic calendar, etc, according to his profile page on the American University of Sharjah page.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk has the top spot on the Richtopia list followed by acclaimed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin and Richard Branson have also made it to the list.

Other prominent names in the space list include Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, former American astronaut Buzz Aldrin and astronaut Sunita Williams.

dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com


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