Four pioneering Black scientists
24 September 2024
Mike Jackson, Physics Subject Advisor
October 2024 is Black History Month in the UK. In 2021 we wrote about several Black British pioneers in STEM and in 2022 we shared the achievements of another six Black British scientists. This year I’ve shared the achievements of four more Black scientists who were not British but whose work had positive impacts across the world.
Wangarĩ Maathai
Wangarĩ Maathai was the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate and the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Born in Kenya in 1940, she received a scholarship to study for a degree in the USA after attending school in her homeland. She went on to major in biology, with minors in chemistry and German. Following her graduation, Maathai gained a master’s degree in biology and then a PhD in veterinary anatomy.
Maathai developed the idea of planting trees with people while serving in the National Council of Woen. This grassroots organisation became the Green Belt Movement which has assisted women in planting more than 20 million trees on farms, schools and church compounds. This movement has spread to other countries across Africa.
Maathai also campaigned for cancellation of unpayable debts by African countries. She was elected to the Kenyan parliament in 2002 and served as Assistant Minister for Environment, Natural Resources and Wildlife until 2005.
In 2006 Maathai received the Nobel Peace Prize for her “contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.” She died in 2011 from complication arising from ovarian cancer.
Alice Ball
Alice Ball was a chemist who developed a treatment for leprosy. She was born in Seattle, Washington in 1892. She went on to receive top grades in sciences in school before studying pharmaceutical chemistry and pharmacy.
Alice went on to study in Hawaii and was the first Black American to graduate with a master’s degree from the college of Hawaii and the first African American research chemist and instructor in their chemistry department.
This led to Ball working at the Leprosy Investigation Station of the US Public Health Service in Hawaii. Here she studied chaulmoogra oil and its chemical properties. Although this had been used as a treatment for leprosy for hundreds of years Ball developed a much more effective injectable form.
Ball tragically died shortly after, in 1916, at the age of 24. Her work was trialled further by her graduate study advisor, Arthur L. Dean, with the findings and work published without acknowledging Alice Ball. Records found in the 1970s, and subsequent research, showed records of Ball’s work and her contribution is now recognised.
Other recognitions include her name being listed with Florence Nightingale and Marie Curie on a frieze of the main building of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. February 28 has been declared Alice Ball Day in Hawaii.
Dr Marguerite Thomas Williams
Dr Marguerite Thomas Williams was the first black person to receive a doctorate in Geology in the United States. Her research work focussed on the Anacostia drainage basin in Maryland where major floods occurred in the first half of the 20th century.
Williams’ diligent study included fieldwork and a literature review, concluding that human activities had contributed greatly to the flooding.
After her studies, Williams went on to be a professor at the Miner Teachers College and was one of the first geologists to study anthropological effects on flooding and erosion.
Mae Jemison
Mae Jemison was the first African American woman in space on the space shuttle Endeavour in 1992. She was born in 1956 in Alabama but moved to Chicago, Illinois as child. She excelled in school and won first place in a city-wide science fair project at high school.
Jemison went on to receive degrees in Chemical Engineering and African American Studies before studying medicine. After graduating in 1981 with her Doctorate in Medicine she became a medical doctor and officer in the Peace Corps.
Jemison applied to the astronaut program at NASA in 1983 and was accepted in 1987 from over 2,000 applications. She left NASA in 1993 and continues to work as an educator, entrepreneur and author. She also appeared in an episode of Star Trek, becoming the first real astronaut to appear in the franchise. She was a good friend of the late Nichelle Nichols, who starred as Uhura in the original series and who helped to inspire Jemison on her route to space.
Jemison is the principal of 100 Year Starship, a project to develop interstellar travel within the next century.
STEM Contributors resource
We created our STEM Contributors resource, highlighting a range of influential people from a searchable databases that can be used to support diversity and inclusivity in schools for our science qualifications. You can download this resource from our Teach Cambridge website.
Stay connected
Have you got suggestions for other Black scientists you’d like to see featured? You can email us your suggestions at science@ocr.org.uk, or message us on X @OCR_Science. You can also sign up to subject updates to receive information about resources and support.
About the author
Mike joined OCR in January 2024 and is a subject advisor for A Level Physics. Mike completed an MA in Education at the University of Birmingham in 2014. Before joining OCR, he was a teacher for over 15 years, with roles included Acting Assistant Head, Head of Science, Physics Network Lead for a trust, a STEM Learning Facilitator and an SLE for Science. Mike is passionate about inclusion in education, environment and sustainability.
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