PA READINGS - BLACK SCIENTISTS
The following entries all come from People by Profession.
George Alcorn is a nuclear physicist, inventor, and educator. He earned his BA in physics at Occidental College, and went on to receive his master’s degree, doctorate and full professorship at Howard University. In 1978 Alcorn took a position at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) where he invented an imaging X-ray spectrometer earning the 1984 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center inventor of the year award As a result of his innovative research, George Alcorn was awarded more than twenty-five patents.
David Baker ran the elevator service in the Board of Trade building in New Orleans, Louisiana. While working there, he invented scales to prevent elevator overloading. His other inventions include a sanitary cuspidor and a railway signalling device.
Benjamin Banneker was an astronomer, mathematician, inventor, compiler of almanacs and writer. He constructed a wooden clock that kept accurate time, predicted the solar eclipse of 1789 and was appointed to the District of Columbia Commission by President George Washington. From 1791 to 1802 published Benjamin Banneker’s Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia Almanack and Ephemeris. His essays strongly opposed human slavery and all wars. His works were recognized by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and eventually influenced the liberating of the slaves north of the Mason-Dixon Line.
Beard, Andrew Jackson 1850 – 1921
Andrew Beard is credited with the invention of the jenny coupler, a mechanism that connected railcars automatically when they were pushed together. This saved many railway workers form serious injuries. This invention, which Beard patented in 1897, earned him $50,000.
Blair, Henry C. 1804 – 1860
Henry Blair was the first African American to patent an invention. He invented devices for planting corn and cotton in 1834.
Sarah Boone invented the narrow wooden ironing board with a padded covering and collapsible leg supports. She patented this ironing board in 1862.
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Carruthers, George R. 1939 –
George Carruthers is an astrophysicist at the Naval Research Laboratory. He invented a lunar surface ultraviolet camera while he was the director of the ultraviolet measurements branch from 1980 to 1982.
Carver, George Washington 1861 – 1943
George Carver was a scientist and educator. He received his master’s degree in agriculture, specializing in plant hybridization and mycology—the study of fungi at Iowa State University. He then went on to accept Booker T. Washington’s offer to head the agricultural department at the Tuskegee Institute. He advocated natural fertilization methods and encouraged the planting of usable crops including peanuts as a cheap source of protein. He became one of the nation’s most effective popularizers of scientific agriculture and crop diversification.
Crosthwait, David Nelson, Jr. 1898 – 1976
David Crosthwait Jr. was a mechanical engineer. His thirty-nine patents were primarily connected with heating and ventilating systems for power plants. His inventions include an automatic water feeder (1920), thermostat-setting apparatus (1928), and a vacuum pump (1930).
James Evan first poems appeared in magazines, then later books. Her themes are racial, and she speaks in the vernacular of urban African Americans. Turning from poetry, Evans edited a group of critical essays covering fifteen African American female poets, novelists and playwrights in an impressive volume Black Women Writers (1950 – 1980).
She has even written four children’s books.
Ferrell, Frank J.
Frank Ferrell’s most important inventions involved improvements in valves for steam engines.
Forten, James 1766 – 1842
James Forten was a businessman and Civil Rights leader. At the age of 32 he became owner of a sailmaking business. He invented and patented a device for handling sails.He amassed a fortune and used the money to promote abolition, women’s reights, the temperance movement, the peace movement, and equal reights for African Americans. In 1833, Forten helped organize the African Anti-Slavery Societyand in 1839 he founded the American Moral Reform Society to promote temperance.
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Goode, Sarah E.
Sarah, born a slave, was the most important black female inventor of the nineteenth century. Her most noteworthy invention was a folding cabinet bed she patented in 1885.
Gourdine, Meredith 1929 – 1998
Meredith Gourdine was a physicist and engineer. She conducted pioneering research in the conversion of gas to electricity for energy use. (electrgasdynamics) He developed a device known as the “Incineraid” to remove smoke from buildings and developed a technique for dispersing fog from airport runways. He received several patents on gasdynamic products. He served as senior research scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory run by NASA, then became chief scientist at Curtiss-Wright Corporation, then founded Gourdine Laboratories.
Hall, Lloyd A. 1894 – 1971
Lloyd Hall specialized in the preservation and processing of meat and bakery products. His discovery of curing salts had a great impact on the meat-packing industry.
Hillery, John Richard 1874 – 1940
John Hillery was a podiatrist who invented the tarsal arch support.
Jones, Frederick McKinley 1892 – 1961
Frederick Jones was an inventor whose many patents include a portable X-ray machine and a device for converting silent film projectors into sound projectors. His automatic refrigeration system revolutionized the trucking and railway industries.
Julian, Hubert Fauntleroy 1897 –
Hubert Julian was an aviator, known as the Black Eagle. He frequently flew stunts over Harlem and was the first African American to parachute from an airplane over New York City in 1922. He invented a safety device related to the parachute and was the military governor of Ethiopia during the 1939 invasion by Italy.
Julian, Percy Lavon 1899 – 1975
Percy Julian was a scientist and businessman. He earned his master’s degree in chemistry at Harvard University. Julian and an colleague, Dr. Josef Pikl, did their research on synthesizing the physostigmine molecule as a drug for treating glaucoma. They presented their successful work to the American Chemical Society in 1934. Julian eventually was awarded 130 patents for chemical discoveries and in 1954 opened his own research laboratory in Chicago.
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Latimer, Louis Howard 1848 – 1928
Lewis Latimer was a scientist and inventor. He was widely known as a member of Thomas Alva Edison’s research team and as a major contributor to the development and commercialization of the incandescent light bulb. Latimer was also a humanitarian who participated in many projects that benefited immigrants and other disadvantaged people of all races.
Matzeliger, Jan Earnst 1852 – 1889
Jan Matzeliger was an inventor noted for his advances in the shoemaking industry. While working in a shoe factory, he noticed that various machines could cut, sew, or tack shoes, but none could perform the final task, called lasting. Artisans performed that last set of steps. Matzeliger developed a machine to perform this task which earned the corporation mare than $50 million in the next twelve years. The invention made Lynn, Massachusetts, the shoe capital of the world.
Morgan, Garrett Augustus 1875 – 1963
Garrett Morgan was an inventor famous for his contributions to public safety. These included a gas mask used by fire fighters, chemists, engineers and World War I soldiers. He is also known for inventing the first automatic traffic signal system used at intersections.
Rhodes, J.B.
J.B. Rhodes was the inventor of a home water closet, which he patented in 1899. By making indoor toilets practical, his invention eliminated the need for outhouses.
Richardson, W.H.
W.H. Richardson was the inventor of a device, called a leveler, that kept baby carriages from tipping over. He patented the device in 1889.
Norbert Rillieux invented a vacuum evaporating pan that revolutionized the sugar-refining industry in 1846. He was hailed as the creator of the greatest chemical engineering innovation of that time. The vacuum evaporating pan was adopted worldwide and was adapted to improve the production of many other industrial chemicals, including soap and gelatine.
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Robinson, Elbert R.
Elbert Robinson was the inventor of a railway trolley that used electric overhead wires to propel passenger cars. His patent was infringed on by two large corporations, and he lost control of it although he took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Dox Thrash was a painter and printmaker who co-invented the carborundum print process. Thrash worked for the Pennsylvania Federal Art Project. His own art work is represented in the National Archives.
Walker, Madam C.J. 1867 – 1919
Madam Walker was an entrepreneur who became the first African American woman millionaire and a pioneer in the cosmetics industry. She was one of the best known African American women of the early twentieth century. She experimented with medicines and began her own company selling her hair preparation. Her interest in women’s education was strong. She contributed women’s scholarships to Tuskegee Institute, Charlotte Hawkins’ Palmer Memorial Institute and bequeath thousands of dollars to many other black organizations.
Woods, Granville T. 1856 – 1910
Granville Woods was an inventor who patented more than fifty inventions. These included a steam boiler system, telephone transmitter, a dimmer switch for theatre lights, an automatic air brake for trains and the synchronous multiplex railway telegraph. In 1888 The American Catholic Tribune termed him “the greatest electrician in the world.”