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This newspaper article from sundaytimes.lk quotes a statement made by a politician in Sri Lanka.

Among the 2,400 scientists at NASA, 263 scientists are Sri Lankan nationals according to Minister of Science, Professor Tissa Vitharana.

Can anybody confirm this? (How to verify this?)

Carlo Alterego
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CRoshanLG
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    According to the [Times of India](http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2008-03-11/india/27751871_1_collaborative-research-indians-basic-sciences), 36% are from India. – gerrit Dec 11 '12 at 15:15
  • If we assume both of these claims true that would leave around 1300 scientists from all the other countries! – CRoshanLG Dec 12 '12 at 03:12
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    NASA is a US government agency and [almost exclusively employs US Citizens](https://answers.nssc.nasa.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/5748/~/what-types-of-nasa-jobs-are-available-to-foreign-nationals%3F). So there are almost certainly not 263 Sri Lankan nationals working *for* NASA. However NASA also collaborates extensively with foreign agencies, so there may well be a lot of Sri Lankans working *at* NASA. – DJClayworth Dec 13 '12 at 21:45
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    @DJClayworth: I know little about the US and Sri Lankan Citizenship laws, but is dual citizenship a possible explanation? – Oddthinking Apr 07 '15 at 04:08
  • Maybe NASA has a tracking station in Sri Lanka ... and hires Sri Lankan nationals to man it? – GEdgar May 13 '17 at 12:38
  • Well, I've never heard of any such station; or any other NASA office here! (I've lived all my life in Sri Lanka) – CRoshanLG May 13 '17 at 15:55

1 Answers1

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This is almost certainly not true.

Let's start with basic information, the self-identities ethnicity of NASA employees. Fortunately this was measured for us as part of a diversity survey. Here are the 2015 results.

The graph of ethnicity is a few screens down and shows that around 7% are of Asian ethnicity (what a native Sri Lankan would count as). Clearly this debunks both the Sri Lankan and Indian claims. Note that the claim of Sri Lankan or Indian nationality is narrower than the ethnicity measure. Someone born in the US to one or even two Sri Lankan or Indian parents might claim Asian ethnicity but probably not that nationality.

There is a small possibility of discrepancy in that the survey is of all NASA employees, which would include non-scientists. NASA employees around 18,000 people, not the 2,400 claimed. It is theoretically possible that Sri Lankans or Indians are massively overrepresented in the scientist group. It would however be extremely implausible.

DJClayworth
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    I'm not sure it's _extremely_ implausible. 7% of 18,000 is 1260; the claimed figure of 263 is 20% of that. I don't think it's particularly far-fetched to think that a fifth of the people of Asian ethnicity working for NASA are scientists. (Now, Sri Lankan _specifically_...) – mattdm May 14 '17 at 16:11
  • Sri Lankan specifically is the claim. – DJClayworth May 14 '17 at 16:15
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    Yeah, the claim seems unlikely on its face, but I think there's room within the numbers you give for it to be better than "extremely implausible". – mattdm May 14 '17 at 16:18
  • I'm sticking with the stronger wording because while the figure of 263 is remotely plausible, the claim has an implied percentage (263/2400) which is absolutely not plausible. – DJClayworth May 14 '17 at 16:22
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    IMO what makes this of dubious relevance is that there may be a much higher proportion of Asians among NASA's scientists than among employees-as-a-whole? The OP is claiming that 11% of the scientists are of Sri Lankan nationality (not "ethnicity", by the way). Who knows, but is the data you gave consistent with the possibility that 60% of all the scientists are of Asian ethnicity? – ChrisW May 14 '17 at 18:56