Black Girls Code / By reaching out to the community through workshops and after school programs, Black Girls CODE introduces computer coding lessons to young girls from underrepresented communities in programming languages such as Scratch or Ruby on Rails.
List of African-American women in STEM fields / A list of notable African-American women who have made contributions to the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Blacks In Technology / The largest community and media organization that focuses on black women and black men in the technology industry. Through community-focused activities, events and media, Blacks In Technology (BIT) is “Stomping the Divide” by establishing a blueprint of world-class technical excellence and innovation and by providing resources, guidance and issuing a challenge to our members to surpass the high mark and establish new standards of global innovation.
Jessica O. Matthews (CEO, Uncharted Power) / For years, Jessica Matthews has held a true passion for helping countries within the African continent. At the age of 22, the Nigerian-American innovator and entrepreneur created SOCCKET, a soccer ball that produced kinetic energy during play that could be used to power a lamp, cell phone, or other devices. The invention proved invaluable to Nigeria and other countries challenged by sporadic blackouts.
Amos, Harold (Microbiologist) / First African-American department chair at Harvard Medical School
Alcorn, George Edward, Jr. (Physicist, Inventor) / Invented a method of fabricating an imaging X-ray spectrometer
Andrews, James J. (Mathematician) / Put forth the Andrews–Curtis conjecture in group theory with Morton L. Curtis, still unsolved
Alexander, Archie (Civil Engineer) / Responsible for the construction of many roads and bridges, including the Whitehurst Freeway, the Tidal Basin Bridge, and an extension to the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.
Bailey, Leonard C. (Inventor) / Folding bed
Ball, Alice Augusta (Chemist) / Extracted chaulmoogra oil for the treatment of Hansen’s disease (leprosy)
Banneker, Benjamin (Almanac author; surveyor; farmer) / Constructed wooden clock; astronomer; mathematician; assisted in the survey of the original boundaries of the District of Columbia; authored a series of almanacs and ephemerides; naturalist: recorded observations on emergences of periodical cicadas and on the behavior of honey bees
Banyaga, Augustin (Mathematician) / Work on diffeomorphisms and symplectomorphisms
Bashen, Janet (Inventor, entrepreneur, professional consultant) / First African-American woman to receive a patent for a web-based software invention, LinkLine, an Equal Employment Opportunity case management and tracking software
Bath, Patricia (Ophthalmologist) / First African-American female physician to receive a patent for a medical invention; inventions relate to cataract surgery and include the Laserphaco Probe, which revolutionized the industry in the 1980s, and an ultrasound technique for treatment
Beard, Andrew (Farmer, carpenter, blacksmith, railroad worker, businessman, inventor) / Janney coupler improvements; invented the car device #594,059 dated November 23, 1897; rotary engine patent #478,271 dated July 5, 1892
Bell, Earl S. (Inventor, entrepreneur, architect, industrial designer) / Invented chair with sliding skin (2004) and the quantitative display apparatus (2005)
Benjamin, Miriam (Inventor, educator) / Invented “Gong and Signal Chair for Hotels”; second African-American woman to receive a patent
Berry, Leonidas (Gastroenterologist) / Gastroscope pioneer
Bharucha-Reid, Albert T. (Mathematician, statistician) / Probability theory and Markov chain theorist
Black, Keith (Neurosurgeon) / Brain tumor surgery and research
Blackwell, David (Mathematician, statistician) / First proposed the Blackwell channel model used in coding theory and information theory; one of the eponyms of the Rao–Blackwell theorem, which is a process that significantly improves crude statistical estimators
Blair, Henry (Inventor) / Second black inventor to issue a patent; invented seed planter and cotton planter
Boahen, Kwabena (Bioengineer) / Silicon retina able to process images in the same manner as a living retina
Boone, Sarah (Inventor) / Ironing board allowing sleeves of women’s garments to be ironed more easily
Bouchet, Edward (Physicist) / First African-American to receive a PhD in any subject; received physics doctorate from Yale University in 1876
Bowman, James (Physician, Pathologist and geneticist) / Professor Emeritus Pritzker School of Medicine; first tenured African-American professor at the University of Chicago Division of Biological Sciences
Boykin, Otis (Inventor, engineer) / Artificial heart pacemaker control unit
Brady, St. Elmo (Chemist) / Published three scholarly abstracts in Science; collaborated on a paper published in the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry
Branson, Herman (Physicist, educator) / Protein structure research
Brooks, Charles (Inventor) / Street sweeper truck and a type of paper punch
Brown, Henry (Inventor) / Invented fire safe
Brown, Oscar E. (Inventor) / Received a patent for an improved horseshoe
Brown, Marie Van Brittan (Inventor) / Invented the home security system
Burr, John Albert (Inventor) / Rotary-blade lawn mower patent
Cannon, Thomas C. (Inventor) / Led a group of engineers who developed the Tactical Optical Fiber Connector (TOFC), the first fiber optic connector deployed under battlefield conditions, and the ST Connector that helped make fiber optic communications affordable.
Cardozo, William Warrick (Pediatrician) / Sickle cell anemia studies; in October 1937 he published “Immunologic Studies in Sickle Cell Anemia” in the Archives of Internal Medicine; many of the findings are still valid today
Carruthers, George (Astrophysicist) / Invented ultraviolet camera/spectrograph which was used by NASA when it launched Apollo 16 in 1972
Carver, George Washington (Botanical researcher) / Discovered hundreds of uses for previously useless vegetables and fruits, principally the peanut
Charles W. Chappelle (Electrician, construction, international businessman and aviation pioneer) / Designed long-distance flight airplane; the only African-American to invent and display the airplane at the 1911 First Industrial Air Show held in conjunction with the Auto Show at Grand Central Palace in Manhattan in New York City; president of the African Union Company, Inc.
Chappelle, Emmett (Scientist and researcher) / Valuable contributions to several fields: medicine, biology, food science, and astrochemistry
Clark, Mamie (Psychologist) / Conducted 1940s experiments using dolls to study children’s attitudes about race
Clark, Kenneth (Psychologist) / First Black president of the American Psychological Association
Crosthwait, David, Jr. (Research engineer) / Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning; received some 40 US patents relating to HVAC systems
Curtis, James H (Nick) (Researcher, chemist (electronics/specialty chemicals) / Organic ionogen for aluminum electrolytic capacitors, cationic dialdehyde polysaccharides for wet strength paper and others, US Patent Office US Pat #3609467 US Pat #3547423 and others
Dabiri, John (Biophysicist) / Expert on jellyfish hydrodynamics and designer of a vertical-axis wind farmadapted from schooling fish
Daly, Marie Maynard (Chemist) / First black American woman with a PhD in chemistry
Dean, Mark (Computer scientist) / Led the team that developed the ISA bus, and led the design team responsible for creating the first one-gigahertz computer processor chip
Drew, Charles (Medical researcher) / Developed improved techniques for blood storage
Du Chaillu, Paul (Zoologist, Anthropologist) / Explorer; first modern European outsider to confirm the existence of gorillas, and later the Pygmy people of central Africa; identified as white throughout life, but his mother was a Réunionnais mulatto; settled in America and considered it his country by adoption; the full aspects of his ancestry were not uncovered until 1979, and are still little known today
Easley, Annie (Computer scientist) / Work at the Lewis Research Center of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
Ellis, Clarence “Skip” (Computer scientist). First African American with a PhD in computer science; software inventor including OfficeTalk at Xerox PARC
Ezerioha, Bisi (Automotive engineer) / Drag racing engineer and driver
Ferguson, Lloyd Noel (Chemist, educator) Chemistry doctorate, first received (1943, University of California, Berkeley)
Fryer, Roland G., Jr. (Economist, social scientist, statistician) / Inequality studies
Gates, Sylvester James (Theoretical physicist) Work on supersymmetry, supergravity, and superstring theory
Goode, Sarah E. (Inventor) / Cabinet bed invention; first African-American woman to receive a patent in the United States
Gilbert, Juan E. (Computer scientist) / Awarded the first Presidential Endowed Chair at Clemson University in honor of his accomplishments
Grant, George F. (Dentist, professor) / The first African-American professor at Harvard, Boston dentist, and inventor of a wooden golf tee.
Graves, Joseph L. (Evolutionary biologist)
Green, Lisa (Linguist) / Specializes in syntax and the study of African American English
Greenaugh, Kevin (Nuclear engineer)
Griffin, Bessie Blount (Physical therapist, inventor) / Amputee self-feeding device
Hall, Lloyd (Chemist)
Harris, James A. (Chemist) / Co-discovered Rutherfordium (element 104) and Dubnium (element 105) at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory
Hawkins, Walter Lincoln (Scientist) / Inventor at Bell Laboratories
Hodge, John E. (Chemist)
Holley, Kerrie (Computer scientist) / IBM’s 1st black Distinguished Engineer and 2nd black IBM Fellow. Inventor of several software engineering techniques including system and methods for locating mobile devices using location and presence information
Jackson, John W. (Electrical Engineer, inventor) / Co-inventor of imaging x-ray spectrometer.
Jackson, Mary (Mathematician, Aerospace engineer) / NASA’s first black female engineer
Jackson, Dr. Shirley (Physicist) / Helped develop technologies leading to the invention of the touch-tone telephone, portable fax, solar cells, fiber optic cables, and the technology enabling caller ID and call waiting. However, in a recent article from MIT, there is no evidence that she helped to develop these technologies.
Jarvis, Erich (Neurobiologist) /Duke University neuroscience bird songs studies
Jennings, Thomas L. (Inventor) / First African American to be granted a patent (for a dry cleaning process called dry scouring)
Johnson, Isaac (Inventor) / Held patent for improvements to the bicycle frame, specifically so it could be taken apart for compact storage
Johnson, Lonnie (Mechanical engineer, nuclear engineer, inventor) / Invented Super Soaker while researching thermal energy transfer engines; worked with NASA; holder of over 80 patents
Isola, Oluwabusuyi (Professor, International Finance, inventor) / Invented Double Sided Guitar
Johnson, Katherine (Physicist, mathematician) / Made contributions to the United States’ aeronautics and space programs with the early application of digital electronic computers at NASA.
Jones, Frederick McKinley (Inventor) / Invented refrigerated truck systems
Julian, Percy (Chemist) / First to synthesize the natural product physostigmine; earned 130 chemical patents; lauded for humanitarian achievements
Just, Ernest (Woods Hole Marine Biology Institute biologist) / Provided basic and initial descriptions of the structure–function–property relationship of the plasma membrane of biological cells
Kittles, Rick (Geneticist) Work in tracing the ancestry of African Americans via DNA testing
Kountz, Samuel L. (Transplant surgeon, researcher) / Organ transplantation pioneer, particularly renal transplant research and surgery; author or co-author of 172 articles in scientific publications
Latimer, Lewis (Inventor, draftsman, expert witness) / Worked as a draftsman for both Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison; became a member of Edison’s Pioneers and served as an expert witness in many light bulb litigation lawsuits; said to have invented the water closet
Lawson, Jerry (Computer engineer) / Designer of Fairchild Channel F, the first programmable ROM cartridge-based video game console
Lee, Raphael Carl (Surgeon, biomedical engineer) / Paul and Aileen Russell Professor, Pritzker School of Medicine; MacArthur Fellow, Searle Scholar, founder and chairman, Avocet Polymer Technologies, Inc.; founder and chairman, Renacyte BioMolecular Technologies, Inc; discovered use of surfactant copolymers as molecular chaperones to augment endogenous injury repair mechanisms of living cells; holder of many patents covering scar treatment therapies, tissue engineered ligaments, brain trauma therapies, and protective garments
Lynk, Beebe Steven (Chemist) Teacher at West Tennessee University
Mahoney, Mary (Nurse) / First African American to study and work as a professionally trained nurse in the United States
Matzeliger, Jan (Inventor) / Shoe assembly Machine
McBay, Henry (Chemist) / His discoveries allowed chemists around the world to create inexpensive peroxide compounds
McCoy, Elijah (Inventor) / Invented a version of the automatic lubricator for steam engines, McCoy learned a great deal of his skills from a mechanical apprenticeship when he was age fifteen.
McLurkin, James (Roboticist)
McWhorter, John (Linguist) / Specializes in the study of creole language formation
Montgomery, Benjamin (Inventor) / Designed a steam operated propeller to provide propulsion to boats in shallow water
Moore, Willie Hobbs (Physicist) / First African American woman to earn a PhD in Physics (University of Michigan Ann Arbor 1972) on vibrational analysis of secondary chlorides
Morgan, Garrett 1877–1963InventorInvented an early version of a gas mask called a smoke hood, and created the first traffic light that included a third “warning” position which is standard today. Morgan also developed a chemical that was used in hair products for hair-straightening.
Mensah, Thomas (Inventor)
Miles, Alexander (Inventor) / Invented electric elevator doors that automatically open and close
Nriagu, Jerome (Geochemist) / Studies toxic metals in the environment; supporter of the lead poisoning thesis of the decline of the Roman Empire
Ogbu, John Uzo (Anthropologist) / Ethnic studies in education and economics
Olukotun, Kunle (Computer scientist) / Early advocate and researcher of multi-core processors
Oyekan, Soni (Chemical engineer) / Inventions in oil refining
Parker, Alice H. (Inventor) / Furnace for Central Heating
Poindexter, Hildrus (Bacteriologist, epidemiologist) / Work on the epidemiology of tropical diseases, including malaria
Petters, Arlie (Physicist) / Work on the mathematical physics of gravitational lensing
Quarterman, Lloyd Albert (Scientist, fluoride chemist) / Manhattan Project, worked with Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi
Renfroe, Earl (Orthodontist)
Rillieux, Norbert (Engineer, inventor) / Inventor of the multiple-effect evaporator
Robinson, Larry (Environmental chemist) / Investigated possible role of arsenic in the death of Zachary Taylor; interim president of Florida A&M University
Ross, Archia (Inventor) A runner for stoops (1896), bag closure device (1898), a wrinkle-preventing trouser stretcher (1899), a garment-hanger (1903), and a holder for brooms and like articles.
Russell, Jesse (Engineer, inventor) / Wireless communications engineer
Sammons, Walter (Inventor) / Patent for hot comb
Sowell, Thomas (Economist, social scientist) / Economist, social theorist and political philosopher
Steele, Claude (Psychologist, social scientist) / Stereotype threat studies
Stiff, Lee (Mathematician) / President of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics from 2000 to 2002
Snyder, Window (Computer engineer) / Security engineer at Microsoft, Mozilla, and Apple
Temple, Lewis (Inventor, blacksmith, abolitionist) / Inventor of the toggling whaling harpoon head
Thomas, Vivien (Surgical technician) /Blue baby syndrome treatment in the 1940s
Turner, Charles Henry (Zoologist) / First person to prove that insects can hear and can distinguish pitch, that cockroaches can learn by trial and error, and that honeybees can see color; first African-American to receive a PhD from the University of Chicago
Tyson, Neil deGrasse (Astronomer) / Researcher and popular educator in astronomy and the sciences
Vaughan, Dorothy (Mathematician) / Worked for NACA and NASA at Langley Research Center
Valerino, Powtawche (Engineer) / Worked for JPL and NASA at Langley Research Center
Walker, Arthur B. C., Jr. (Astronomer) / Developed normal incidence multilayer XUV telescopes to photograph the solar corona
Walker, C. J. (Inventor) / Created black cosmetic products
Washington, Warren M. (Atmospheric scientist) / Former chair of the National Science Board
West, James E. (Acoustician, inventor) / Co-developed the foil electret microphone
Wilkins, J. Ernest, Jr. (Mathematician, engineer, nuclear scientist) / Entered University of Chicago at age 13; PhD at 19; worked on the Manhattan Project; wrote over 100 scientific papers; helped recruit minorities into the sciences
Williams, Daniel (Surgeon) / The first black person on record to have successfully performed pericardium (the sac surrounding the heart) surgery to repair a wound.
Williams, Scott W. (Mathematician)
Williams, Walter E. (Economist, social scientist)
Woods, Granville (Inventor) / Invented the synchronous multiplex railway telegraph
Wright, Jane C. (Cancer research and surgeon) / Noted for her contributions to chemotherapy and for pioneering the use of the drug methotrexate to treat breast cancer and skin cancer
Wright, Louis T. (Surgeon) / Led team that first used Aureomycin as a treatment on humans
Young, Roger Arliner (Zoologist) / First African-American woman to receive a doctorate degree in zoology