An asteroid located at 300 million km from Earth, between Mars and Jupiter, now bears the name of a Romanian astronomy professor from Oradea, Marin Bica. The Space Generation advisory Council in Austria chose his name from 1,500 proposals, reports local Digi24.

One of his former students, Cristian Lazar, was the one who proposed the Romanian professor’s name. Marin Bica died last year in an accident in the mountains. He was a Romanian professor of physics and astronomy. He coordinated the national team of physics and astronomy for years, and his students won several gold and silver medals at international Olympiads.

As a sign of appreciation, a street in Oradea will be named Marin Bica, and so will the physics laboratory of the Dacia School in the city, according to Digi24.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com