Professor Mansi Manoj Kasliwal Becomes First Female Director of Palomar Observatory

Professor Mansi Manoj Kasliwal has made history by becoming the first woman and the second person of Indian origin (PIO) to be appointed as the new Director of the Palomar Observatory.

Earlier, Srinivas Kulkarni served as the first PIO Director of the observatory from 2006 to 2018.

Background

Born in Indore, India, Professor Kasliwal moved to the United States at the age of 15. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in 2005 and completed her Ph.D. in Astronomy at Caltech in 2011. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the Carnegie Observatories, she returned to Caltech, where she now serves as a tenured professor.

Recognition

Professor Kasliwal is internationally known for her groundbreaking work on explosive cosmic events such as supernovae and neutron star collisions. For her leadership in the electromagnetic follow-up of cosmic phenomena, she received the New Horizons in Physics Prize in 2022.