Renu Malhotra | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1961 (age 64–65) |
| Alma mater | IIT Delhi (MS) Cornell University (PhD) |
| Known for | Planet migration in the Solar system |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | University of Arizona |
| Doctoral advisor | Stanley Dermott |
| Website | https://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~renu/ |
Renu Malhotra (born 1961) is an Americanplanetary scientist from India, known for using theorbital resonance betweenPluto andNeptune to infer large-scale orbital migration of thegiant planets and to predict the existence ofPlutinos in resonance withNeptune. The asteroid6698 Malhotra was named for her on 14 December 1997 (M.P.C. 31025).[1][2] She is credited by theMinor Planet Center with the co-discovery of(455206) 2001 FE193, atrans-Neptunian object in the Kuiper belt.
| (455206) 2001 FE193 | 27 March 2001 | MPC |
Renu Malhotra was born inNew Delhi in 1961. Her father was an aircraft engineer atIndian Airlines. Her family moved toHyderabad when she was a child.[4] She attended theIndian Institute of Technology Delhi, graduating with anM.S. degree in Physics in 1983.[5] Malhotra then attendedCornell University, where she was introduced tonon-linear dynamics byMitchell Feigenbaum.[6] She received herPh.D. degree in Physics from Cornell in 1988, withStanley Dermott as her doctoral advisor. With the help ofPeter Goldreich who had read her paper on themoons of Uranus, she obtained a postdoctoral research position atCalifornia Institute of Technology. She then worked for nine years atLunar and Planetary Institute, where she completed work onPluto's orbital resonance and predicted the resonant structure of theKuiper Belt.[6] Malhotra is currently a professor at theUniversity of Arizona'sLunar and Planetary Laboratory.[7]
