African Americans In Science

1. African Americans InScience By Jesse, Howard, Mohamed, Patrice

2. Introduction I History II Medicine III Astronomy IV Mathematics V Natural Science

3. History • Before the Civil War, African Americans were denied a proper education. • Confined to agriculture, domestic services, manual trade. • Some African American slaves were able to obtain an education. • Even free African Americans were limited to access of knowledge.

4. Medicine • Vivien Theodore Thomas • Life • Born August 26, 1910 • From Lake Providence, Louisiana • Thomas was planning to be a carpentry before ever considering a medical profession • Accomplishments • Assist to Alfred Blalock on experiments on surgical shock. • He gathered evidence that linked shock to decreases in blood volume and to fluid loss outside the vascular system. • This research led to applications in blood and plasma treatment for traumas during W.W. II. • Responsible for developing experimental procedures, refine experiments, and test new protocols in the laboratory. • Worked on Blue Baby Syndrome.

5. Medicine • Otis Boykin • Life • Born 1920 • Attendant Fisk University and Illinois Institute of Technology • Began career as a lab assistant testing automatic controls for aircrafts • Accomplishments • Invented the electrical device used in all guided missiles and IBM computers • First achievements was a type of resistor used in computers, radios, television sets and a variety of electronic device • Also invented 26 other electronic devices including a control unit for an artificial heart stimulator(pacemaker). • Ironically he died of heart failure in 1982

6. Medicine Dr. Benjamin Carson • Majored in psychology at Yale and graduated from the University of Michigan School of Medicine. • Became Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital when he was 33 years old • Carson and a team of more than 70 physicians, surgeons and nurses made medical history with an operation at Johns Hopkins to separate a pair of conjoined twins. • Authored over 100 neurosurgical publications, and has been awarded 38 honorary doctorate degrees and dozens of national merit citations. • Movie was made about Carson's life, Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story

7. Astronomy • Benjamin Banneker • Life • Born in 1731 • His Grandfather was a slave from Africa and his grandmother, an indentured servant from England • Grew up on a family farm • He was known as • Accomplishments • Inspiration • When he was 21, a remarkable thing happened: he saw a patent watch • He carve a similar watch pieces out of wood and made a clock of his own • The first striking clock to be made completely in America • Taught himself astronomy and advanced mathematics • His study of astronomy enabled him to make the calculations to predict solar and lunar eclipses, even correctly contradicting experts of the day, and to compile an ephemeris for his Benjamin Banneker's Almanac, which he published from 1791 through 1796. He became known as the Sable Astronomer. • Also in 1791, Banneker was hired to assist brothers Andrew and Joseph Ellicott as part of a 6-man team to help design the new capital city, Washington, DC. This made him the 1st African-American presidential appointee.

8. Astronomy • Harvey Washington Banks • Life • Born February 7, 1923 in Atlanta City, New Jersey • Dunbar High School • Accomplishments • Earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in physics in 1946 and a Masters of Science Degree in 1948 at Howard University • In 1961 he became the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in astronomy from Georgetown • His dissertation involved the properties of light from distant sources, a concentration known as planetary spectroscopy.

9. Mathematics • David Blackwell • Life • Born Aril 24, 1919 in Centralia, Illinois • Accomplishments • Earned a Ph.D. within 5 years of high school from the University of Illinois in 1941. • Wrote a book that was considered a classic called Theory of Games and Statistical Decision • In 1965 he became the first African American named to the National Academy of Science,( he still is the only one black mathematician to be so honored. • In 1979 he won the von Neumann theory Prize.

10. Mathematics • Percy Pierre • Life • Born in St. James Parish, Louisiana on January 3, 1939 • Attended St, Augustine’s High School in New Orleans. Louisiana • Accomplishments • Received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering in 1961 • Obtained his Masters in 1963 from Notre Dame University • Earned a Doctor of Science in 1967 • Served as a Systems Engineer for RAND Corporation 1968-69 • Served as a White House Fellow for the Executive Office of the President in 1969-70

11. Natural Science Robert Henry Lawrence Jr. • Named First African-American Astronaut on June 1967 • Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry in 1965 from Ohio State University. • Commissioned a Second Lieutenant into the US Air Force upon graduation • His name was the 17th added to The Astronauts Memorial Foundation Space Mirror

12. Earnest Everett Just Natural Science • Completed the four-year course of study in only three years at Kimball Hall Academy • In his freshman year at Dartmouth he received the highest marks in the entire freshmen class • Became head of Biology and Zoology Department at Howard University • Received NAACP's Spingarn Medal on 12 February 1915. • Became the first American to be invited to the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin, Germany, where several Nobel Prize winners conducted research.

13. Citations The Faces of Science: African Americans in the Sciences." Mitchell C. Brown, (February 18, 1996). URL = http://www.princeton.edu/~mcbrown/display/faces.html   Williams, Scott (1995). Mathematicians of the Africa Diaspora. Retrieved March 10, 2009, from Mathematicians of the Africa Diaspora Web site: http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/PEEPS/blackwell_david.html