STARKVILLE, Miss. (WLOX) - A Mississippi State University faculty member has made a celestial discovery in Starkville: the first asteroid identified from the state of Mississippi.

Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Jean-Francois Gout, an amateur astronomer in his spare time, recently became the official discoverer of a new asteroid, “(826856) Commodorecochran,” which he named in honor of Commodore Shelton Cochran (1902–1969), the first MSU athlete to win an Olympic gold medal.

Cochran, a 1923 MSU alumnus, graduated when the university was known as Mississippi A&M. Cochran ran the first leg of Team USA’s 4×400-meter relay team at the 1924 Paris games, creating a meaningful connection for Gout.

“The discovery was just over 100 years after the gold medal, and he won his medal at

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