From the rooftops of Pokhara to classrooms across Nepal, Manisha Dwa has been opening doors to the stars for thousands of young students. The 38-year-old astrophysicist and project coordinator at the Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO) is also a co-founder of the National Astronomy Olympiad, and she is working to make astronomy a real possibility for students who might never have had a chance to explore it before.
Dwa’s love for space started when she was a child. Her mother, a primary school teacher, would spend nights explaining the stars, planets, and satellites from their rooftop. “Even as a child, I wanted to know how everything works,” Dwa remembers. That curiosity eventually led her to physics and later to astrophysics, a field where very few women in Nepal had ventured before.
When Dwa first entered college, she quickly realized how male-dominated the science world was. Classrooms were crowded, and often she had to stand while male students took seats. In the laboratory, she was sometimes only allowed to watch experiments instead of taking part. “It was tough, but I thought I could take it as a challenge,” she says. “I wanted to prove that we can do this too.”
In 2013, Dwa joined NASO as a project coordinator. At the time, the organisation had no proper office, only a few broken laptops, and very little resources. But Dwa and her team worked hard, and gradually NASO grew. They focused on three main areas: education, outreach, and research. Additionally, they wanted students to learn in a way that encouraged curiosity and creativity, rather than just memorizing facts.
NASO recently became the first Nepali organisation to receive membership from the International Astronomical Union (IAU), allowing Nepali astronomers to connect with experts around the world. This helps students and professionals share knowledge and get opportunities that were previously impossible. Meanwhile, the National Astronomy Olympiad trains young students to take part in international competitions, giving them a chance to compete on the same stage as students from countries with more resources. Some past participants are now studying at Harvard.
Dwa is also Nepal’s first female astrophotographer. She has published her photos in national magazines and newspapers and actively works to preserve Nepal’s dark skies. She notes that more than 80 percent of people live under light-polluted skies, which makes it harder to study astronomy and enjoy the night sky. “The sky is something that connects all of us,” she says. “No matter where we are, we all live under the same sky.”
Moreover, Dwa wants to inspire more girls to study science. She hopes that her work, along with NASO’s programs, will give young women the confidence to pursue their interests in fields where they are often underrepresented. She hopes to set up a telescope in Nepal that will be accessible to both local and foreign students. “The vastness of the night sky is the largest laboratory for astronomy in the world, even if we do not yet have access to all the advanced equipment that would allow us to fully explore this incredible universe,” says Manisha.