source: blerbs
Elmer Imes was the second African-American to receive a physics doctorate, and the first to publish research. His work, published in 1920, on molecular infrared spectroscopy provided one of the earliest tests of quantum theory. Despite his scientific achievements, he also had trouble finding employment at a university or college and spent the next 10 years of his life at different industrial labs. In 1930, he became the chairman of the physics department at Fisk University.
Willie Hobbs Moore was the first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in physics at the University of Michigan in 1972 on vibrational analysis of secondary chlorides. While at Michigan, Moore worked for Datamax. She also held engineering positions at Bendix Aerospace Systems, Barnes Engineering and Sensor Dynamics, where she was responsible for the theoretical analysis.
Warren Henry’s celebrated career spanned 70 years. As a graduate student at the University of Chicago, he studied with a number of Nobel laureates, including Arthur Compton, James Franck, Maria Goeppert-Mayer, Robert Mulliken and Wolfgang Pauli. During World War II, he helped develop a radar. After the war, he worked at the Naval Research Laboratory and explored the magnetic and superconductive properties of materials at temperatures near absolute zero and ways to use them in aerospace technology. He taught at the Tuskegee Institute, and was the chairman of the physics department at Morehouse College.
Shirley Ann Jackson is currently the 18th president of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the second African-American woman to receive a Ph.D. in physics. She started her career working at Fermilab, SLAC and CERN before arriving at Bell Laboratories in 1976 to work on condensed matter research. In 1995, President Bill Clinton named her the head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the first woman and the first African-American to lead the commission.
Ronald McNair was an astronaut who previously researched satellite communications at Hughes Research Laboratory in California. His first flight into space was onboard the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1984 to conduct experiments in microgravity. He and the rest of his crew lost their lives seconds after liftoff of his second shuttle flight onboard Challenger in 1986. The mission of the flight was to photograph Halley’s Comet.
Jim Gates is a world-renowned theoretical physicist. He is a pioneer into theories about supersymmetry and string theory. He is a professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, but his influence extends to many areas. He is on President Barack Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and on the Maryland Board of Education. He has also appeared on many TV shows and in popular films about physics.
George E. Alcorn is an African-American inventor with a B.A. in physics, a master’s degree in nuclear physics and a Ph.D. in atomic and molecular physics. Alcorn worked for the likes of Philco-Ford, Perkin-Elmer, IBM and NASA, created over 20 different inventions and was granted eight patents. Alcorn invented the imaging x-ray spectrometer – a device that helps scientists better understand what materials are composed of when they cannot be broken down. His breakthrough was regarded as a major innovation by experts in the field. The invention led to Alcorn getting NASA’s Inventor of the Year Award.
Alexander Obiefoka Enukora Animalu is professor emeritus of physics at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.<sup id="cite_ref-1"> </sup>A pioneer of solar energy in Nigeria, Animalu is a physicist of international repute, member of the highest advisory body on science and technology to the Nigerian government, Honorary Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology (2001–2003), and former director of the National Mathematical Centre, Abuja.
As the focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) grows and Black people are more encouraged to take on STEM studies and careers, this article pays homage to Black men and women who were pioneers in the realm of physics, according to Physics Buzz and Buffalo University’s Physicists of the African Diaspora.
Edward Bouchet was the first African-American to receive a Ph.D. from a university in the United States. He received his doctorate in 1876 from Yale after studying optics, but he had trouble finding a teaching position afterwards because of his race. He took a position teaching physics and chemistry at the Institute of Colored Youth in Pennsylvania for 26 years, then moved around to several different colleges and high schools at the end of his career.
Elmer Imes was the second African-American to receive a physics doctorate, and the first to publish research. His work, published in 1920, on molecular infrared spectroscopy provided one of the earliest tests of quantum theory. Despite his scientific achievements, he also had trouble finding employment at a university or college and spent the next 10 years of his life at different industrial labs. In 1930, he became the chairman of the physics department at Fisk University.
Willie Hobbs Moore was the first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in physics at the University of Michigan in 1972 on vibrational analysis of secondary chlorides. While at Michigan, Moore worked for Datamax. She also held engineering positions at Bendix Aerospace Systems, Barnes Engineering and Sensor Dynamics, where she was responsible for the theoretical analysis.
Warren Henry’s celebrated career spanned 70 years. As a graduate student at the University of Chicago, he studied with a number of Nobel laureates, including Arthur Compton, James Franck, Maria Goeppert-Mayer, Robert Mulliken and Wolfgang Pauli. During World War II, he helped develop a radar. After the war, he worked at the Naval Research Laboratory and explored the magnetic and superconductive properties of materials at temperatures near absolute zero and ways to use them in aerospace technology. He taught at the Tuskegee Institute, and was the chairman of the physics department at Morehouse College.
Shirley Ann Jackson is currently the 18th president of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the second African-American woman to receive a Ph.D. in physics. She started her career working at Fermilab, SLAC and CERN before arriving at Bell Laboratories in 1976 to work on condensed matter research. In 1995, President Bill Clinton named her the head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the first woman and the first African-American to lead the commission.
Ronald McNair was an astronaut who previously researched satellite communications at Hughes Research Laboratory in California. His first flight into space was onboard the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1984 to conduct experiments in microgravity. He and the rest of his crew lost their lives seconds after liftoff of his second shuttle flight onboard Challenger in 1986. The mission of the flight was to photograph Halley’s Comet.
Jim Gates is a world-renowned theoretical physicist. He is a pioneer into theories about supersymmetry and string theory. He is a professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, but his influence extends to many areas. He is on President Barack Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and on the Maryland Board of Education. He has also appeared on many TV shows and in popular films about physics.
George E. Alcorn is an African-American inventor with a B.A. in physics, a master’s degree in nuclear physics and a Ph.D. in atomic and molecular physics. Alcorn worked for the likes of Philco-Ford, Perkin-Elmer, IBM and NASA, created over 20 different inventions and was granted eight patents. Alcorn invented the imaging x-ray spectrometer – a device that helps scientists better understand what materials are composed of when they cannot be broken down. His breakthrough was regarded as a major innovation by experts in the field. The invention led to Alcorn getting NASA’s Inventor of the Year Award.
Alexander Obiefoka Enukora Animalu is professor emeritus of physics at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.<sup id="cite_ref-1"> </sup>A pioneer of solar energy in Nigeria, Animalu is a physicist of international repute, member of the highest advisory body on science and technology to the Nigerian government, Honorary Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology (2001–2003), and former director of the National Mathematical Centre, Abuja.
