Year born: 1951
Research Areas: Astrophysics
"“We should make women and girls aware that science is a rewarding career. It’s extremely rewarding if you look at what you can contribute to the country, the world, and the planet itself."
Source: Malaysia’s first astrophysicist empowers girls in STEM fields
Early Life
Mazlan Othman was born in Malaysia in 1951. She was very good at maths in school. This led her down a science path. She was set on doing physics. Othman earned her PhD at the University of Otago in astrophysics in 1981. She was the first woman to do this since it was founded in 1869.
Career Highlights
Othman joined the Prime Minister's Department in 1990. She set up and was head of the planetarium division. This then became the space science division in 1993. She became a professor of astrophysics at UKM in 1994.
In 1999, she went to Vienna to lead the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA). Othman went back to Malaysia in 2002 to start the space agency ANGKASA. She helped build the National Observatory in Langkawi and the National Space Centre in Selangor.
Othman also led the astronaut program that sent the first Malaysian to space in 2007. She also worked on Malaysia's satellites, TiungSAT and RazakSAT. After she retired from the Malaysian government, she went back to UNOOSA in 2007. In 2009, she became the Deputy Director General of the UN office in Vienna. She retired from the UN in 2013.
From 2014 to 2016, she worked on a big science project in Malaysia. Othman became a professor Emeritus at UKM in 2015. She studied space policy in the US as a Fullbright Scholar. In 2016, she was chosen as a senior fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia. From 2017 to 2021, she led a regional science office in Asia and the Pacific.
As of May 2023, she is a non executive member of HKATG, a mainly China funded satellite program. Othman has made a big impact on space science in Malaysia and around the world!
Legacy
In 1997, Othman was given the Panglima Jasa Negara Award by Tuanku Ja’afar, the tenth King of Malaysia. This gave her the name ’Datuk’. That same year, she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science degree.
In 2009, the Institute of Physics gave her the President’s Medal for her efforts in growing astronomy education in Malaysia. She is a leader in space science.
Other Interests
Mazlan Othman has two children and two grandchildren. She lives with her youngest daughter.