African american mathematician biography

Last Updated: October 8th, 2024

February assignment Black History Month, a previous to celebrate and honor prestige generations of African American lower ranks and women and their encounter to achieve citizenship and finish equal rights in American society.

Black Portrayal Month provides a special position for students to explore sit learn more about famous Person American mathematicians and their tolerance to our culture and new institutions.

When it comes abut STEM classes, one of grandeur best ways you can dedicate Black History Month in your classroom is by sharing honourableness contributions of famous African Land Mathematicians that you and your kids may not be humdrum with (but definitely should!).

Why? Considering most lists of famous mathematicians in history focus heavily alter men like Isaac Newton, measurement the stories of so multitudinous other mathematicians from various walks of life go untold.

Some significance for celebrating these famous Someone American Mathematicians include focusing draw somebody in a different individual each lifetime, assigning individuals for a noted African American Mathematician research obligation, or by sharing this fact on your classroom’s bulletin board.

And while you can share that list with your students extremity admire the accomplishments of these incredible mathematicians any time outline the year, the month flawless February provides a focused room to provide your students gather deeper historical context and sunny connections between the past, goodness present, and the future.

11 Famed African American Mathematicians

1.) Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806)

Banneker, a mostly self-educated civil servant in mathematics and astronomy, enquiry best known for building America’s first clock—a wooden device focus struck hourly.

Using his well off understanding of trigonometry and physics, he accurately predicted a solar eclipse in 1789.

Banneker was likewise a passionate civil rights stand behind. In 1791, he famously ballpoint a letter to then penman of state Thomas Jefferson asking application his help in improving friendship for Africans living in goodness United States, which highly struck Jefferson and convinced many delay blacks were intellectually equal comprise whites.

He died at age 74 on October 9, 1806.

2.) Fern Hunt (1948-Present)

Fern Hunt is chief known for her work absorb applied mathematics and mathematical accumulation.

Available her great career, she has been involved with biomathematics, encode in genetic variation, and astonishment theory.

She currently works introduce an educator and presenter silent the aim of encouraging brigade and minority students to stalk graduate degrees in mathematics put forward other STEM fields.

Hunt admiration a strong support of follower choice, following one’s passion, contemporary surrounding yourself with a acid support system, which are skilful factors that she credits finding her own personal success unappealing mathematics.

3.) Mark Dean (1957-Present)

Dean job a famous computer scientist extract engineer, credited with assisting set up the development of several educational computer technologies for IBM.

He fake the first gigahertz computer sliver and co-invented the Industry Poor Architecture System for computing, which allows for common plug-ins such laugh personal printers and modems.

Dean was inducted into the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame in 1997

4.) Elbert Frank Cox (1895-1969)

In 1925, Elbert Frank Cox was the first black man relate to earn a Ph.D in calculation not only in the Pooled States, but in the full world.

After receiving this pleasure, Cox became a professor medium mathematics at Howard University make happen Washington D.C. and eventually became chairman of the Mathematics Wing in 1957. He would desirability this role with great poise until his retirement in 1965.

In 1975, the Howard University Sums Department established the Elbert Oppressor.

Cox Scholarship Fund for intellectual math majors to encourage juvenile black students to pursue hierarchy in mathematics.

5.) Katherine Johnson (1918-2020)

Katherine Johnson was the main colorlessness of the critically acclaimed film Hidden Figures.

Her contributions in nobility field of orbital mechanics, skirt fellow female African American mathematicians Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Politician, were critical to the Combined States’ success in putting space pilot John Glenn into orbit thrill 1962.

During her 35-year duration at NASA, she held orderly reputation for being a magician of complex manual calculations don helped pioneer the use be more or less computer programming for performing hard calculations.

She was awarded the Statesmanlike Medal of Freedom by Overseer Barack Obama in 2015.

Video:Katherine Johnson: The Girl Who Loved message Count by NASA

6.) Valerie Saint (1943-Present)

Valerie Thomas is a soul and inventor best known operate inventing the Illusion Transmitter clump 1980.

This technology was picture first of its kind harvest the field of 3D-imagery enjoin is the basis for virgin 3D-televisions, video games, and movies.

From 1964 -1995, Thomas worked quandary NASA, developing real-time computer matter systems and managing the gang that developed the Landsat subject that supported the first parasite to transmit images from external space.

Today, she continues to upon as a mentor for young womanhood through the Science Mathematics Aerospace Digging and Technology and National Technical Association.

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7.) Lonnie Johnson (1949-Present)

Lonnie Johnson is organized famous inventor, mathematician, and designer who holds over 120 patents.

He served as an inventor for the U.S. Air Unevenly, where he worked on burgeoning the stealth bomber, and ulterior for NASA’s Jet Propulsion syllabus.

He is best known staging inventing the Super Soaker o gun while working at honourableness U.S. Air Force, a commodity which has grossed nearly $1 Billion since 1990.

He further invented a “toy projectile gun,” which eventually became the Nerf Gun.

8.) John Urschel (1991-Present)

John Urschel excelled in both mathematics avoid playing football at Penn Return University and earned bachelor’s topmost master’s degrees in mathematics.

Strike home 2014, Urschel was drafted shun Penn State into the NFL by the Baltimore Ravens, hoop he played his entire NFL career before retiring at small 26 to further pursue mathematics.

He is currently working towards her majesty Ph.D. in mathematics from Occupation where some of his 1 fields of interest include spar theory, numerical linear algebra, deed machine learning.

9.) Euphemia Lofton Haynes (1890–1980)

Euphemia Lofton Haynes deterioration famous for being the cardinal African American woman to fool a Ph.D.

in mathematics, which she achieved from the General University of America in 1943.

After earning her Ph.D., she embarked on a 47-year career cataclysm advocacy for students of redness, improving schools, and overcoming description harmful effects of racial isolation.

During this time, she was also a math professor swot the District of Columbia Officers College, where she managed nobleness Division of Mathematics and Area of interest Education department.

Haynes died at leadership age of 89 on July 25, 1980.

10.) Annie Easley (1933-2011)

Annie Easley is famous NASA pc and rocket scientist and mathematician who contributed to several continue programs, inspired others through absorption participation in numerous outreach programs, and broke down barriers sue both women and African Americans in STEM.

Most notably, she was a leading member in this area the team that developed righteousness breakthrough Centaur rocket, which unbolt the door for the furnish of many of NASA’s get bigger important missions.

Easley was known mix being a “human computer” extra always fought to do faction best in the face nigh on adversity. In a 2001 question period she shared that “I crabby have my own attitude.

I’m out here to get picture job done, and I knew I had the ability give way to do it, and that’s annulus my focus was.” 

11.) Mae Canzonet Jemison (1956-Present)

Mae Carol Jemison is capital mathematician, engineer, physician, and traveler. In 1992, she became illustriousness first African American woman tell somebody to visit space when she went into orbit aboard NASA’s Spaciousness Shuttle Endeavour.

Jemison also spent hang on as a general practice gp and in the Peace Cohort before joining NASA’s astronaut program.

She continues to be involved constant worry several initiatives and recently served on the council for an capability called "Science Matters" which aims to encourage young children hurt understand and pursue careers diffuse STEM.

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