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The following is a list of notable African-American women who have made contributions to the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. These African Women have added pressure compared to their counterparts and often feel that they have to prove their worth and pave the way for future people like them to also get work. As well, these women struggled with the opportunity to advance in status as because of discrimination, many women could not go on work trips since most of the hotels they would have stayed at were white only.[citation needed]
Image | Name | Field(s) | Dates | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rediet Abebe | computer scientist | 1991- | first woman computer scientist to be appointed to the Harvard Society of Fellows | ||
Lilia Ann Abron | chemical engineering, environmental engineering | 1945- | first African-American woman to earn a PhD in chemical engineering | ||
Claudia Alexander | geophysics, planetary science | 1959-2015 | Project manager for NASA's Galileo mission and Rosetta mission | ||
Gloria Long Anderson | chemistry | 1938- | |||
Treena Livingston Arinzeh | biomedical engineering | 1970- | |||
Estella Atekwana | Biogeophysics; tectonphysics | 1961- | Dean of the College of Earth, Ocean and Environment at the University of Delaware | ||
Balanda Atis | cosmetic science | cosmetic chemist at L'Oréal USA | |||
Donna Auguste | businesswoman, computer scientist | 1958- | |||
Wanda Austin | aerospace engineering | 1954- | Former president and CEO of The Aerospace Corporation |
Image | Name | Field(s) | Dates | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
June Bacon-Bercey | meteorology | 1932- | Believed to be the first African-American woman to gain a degree in meteorology and confirmed to be the first African-American woman to be a televised meteorologist. | ||
Erica Baker | software engineer | 2006- | Engineer and engineering manager in the San Francisco Bay Area, known for her outspoken support of diversity and inclusion. | ||
Alice Augusta Ball | chemistry | 1892-1916 | first woman and African-American to receive a master's degree from the University of Hawaii | ||
Patricia Bath | ophthalmologist, inventor | 1942-2019 | pioneered laser surgery to remove cataracts | ||
Regina Benjamin | physician | 1956- | 18th Surgeon General of the United States | ||
Angela Benton | internet entrepreneur | 1981- | |||
Matilene Berryman | oceanographer | 1920-2003 | |||
Sarah Boone | inventor | 1832-1904 | |||
Sylvia D. Trimble Bozeman | mathematician | 1947- | |||
Carolyn Brooks | microbiologist | 1947- | |||
Dorothy Lavinia Brown | surgeon | 1919-2004 | First African American female appointed to a general surgery residency in the racially segregated South. | [1] | |
Marjorie Lee Brown | mathematician | 1914-1979 | |||
Kimberly Bryant | electrical engineer | ||||
Joy Buolamwini | computer scientist | ||||
Ursula Burns | engineer, CEO | 1958- |
Image | Name | Field(s) | Dates | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alexa Canady | neuroscience | 1950- | |||
Carolyn Cannon-Alfred | pharmacologist | 1934- | |||
Majora Carter | developer | 1966- | |||
Gloria Chisum | experimental psychologist | 1930- | |||
Mamie Phipps Clark | social psychologist | 1917-1983 | Researched self-esteem and self-concept in African-American children, which was used in 1954 civil rights case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas | [2] | |
May Edward Chinn | physician | 1896-1980 | |||
Yvonne Clark | engineer | 1929- | |||
Jewel Plummer Cobb | biologist | 1924-2017 | |||
Johnnetta Cole | anthropologist, educator and museum director | 1936- | Spelman College's seventh president and the first Black woman to lead the institution | [3] | |
Rebecca Cole | physician | 1846-1922 | Second African-American woman physician | ||
Bessie Coleman | aviator | 1896–1926 | first African American and Native American woman to hold a pilot license | [2] | |
Betty Collette | veterinary pathologist | 1930-2017 | |||
Margaret S. Collins | zoologist | 1922-1996 | |||
Carol Blanche Cotton | psychologist | 1904-? | |||
Patricia S. Cowings | aerospace psychophysiologist | 1948- | 'first African American woman scientist to be trained as an astronaut by NASA | ||
Rebecca Lee Crumpler | physician | 1831–1895 | first African-American woman to become a physician in the United States |
Image | Name | Field(s) | Dates | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Marie Maynard Daly | biochemist | 1921–2003 | first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry | ||
Theda Daniels-Race | nanoengineering, electronic engineering | Michael B. Voorhies Distinguished Professor in the Division of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Louisiana State University, 19th African American woman to obtain a PhD in a physics-related field in the US | [4] | ||
Christine Darden | aerospace engineer | 1942- | Researcher at NASA where she was a pioneer in the design of supersonic aircraft | [2] | |
Geraldine Claudette Darden | mathematician | 1936- | |||
Mary Deconge | mathematician | 1933- | |||
Giovonnae Dennis | electrical engineer | ||||
Helen Octavia Dickens | physician | 1909–2001 | |||
Georgia Mae Dunston | Human Geneticist | 1944- | Professor at Howard University and founder of the National Human Genome Center |
Image | Name | Field(s) | Dates | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Annie Easley | mathematician and rocket scientist | 1933–2011 | |||
Cecile H. Edwards | nutritionist | 1926–2005 | |||
Joycelyn Elders | pediatrician | 1933- | Surgeon General of the United States | ||
Lola Eniola-Adefeso | chemical engineer | ||||
Anna Epps | microbiologist | 1930- | |||
Jeanette J. Epps | astronaut and aerospace engineer | 1970- | |||
Aprille Ericsson-Jackson | aerospace engineer | 1963- | |||
Brittney Exline | software engineer | [5] | |||
Cassandra Extavour | evolutionary biologist | Director of EDEN, a national research collaborative encouraging use of non- Drosophila model organisms | [6] |
Image | Name | Field(s) | Dates | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Etta Zuber Falconer | mathematician | 1933-2002 | |||
Angella D. Ferguson | pediatrician | 1925- | researcher of sickle cell disease | ||
Evelyn J. Fields | oceanographer | 1949- | |||
Njema Frazier | nuclear physicist | ||||
A. Oveta Fuller | virologist | 1955- |
Image | Name | Field(s) | Dates | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Timnit Gebru | computer scientist | ||||
Gloria Ford Gilmer | mathematician | ||||
Sarah E. Goode | inventor | 1855–1905 | |||
Evelyn Boyd Granville | mathematician, computer science | 1924- | |||
Bettye Washington Greene | chemist | 1935- 1995 | |||
Eliza Ann Grier | physician | 1864–1902 | |||
Margaret Grigsby | physician | ||||
Bessie Blount Griffin | physical therapist, inventor | 1914–2009 |
Image | Name | Field(s) | Dates | Notes | Ref. | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sossina M. Haile | materials scientist | 1966- | ||||
Betty Harris | chemist | 1940- | ||||
Paula T. Hammond | Chemical Engineer | 1963- | Koch Professor of Engineering, Department Head of Chemical Engineering, Koch Institute of Integrative Cancer Research, MIT | |||
Mary Styles Harris | geneticist | 1949- | ||||
Alma Levant Hayden | chemist | 1927-1967 | ||||
Euphemia Lofton Haynes | mathematician | 1890-1980 | First African-American woman to earn a PhD in Mathematics | |||
Ruby Puryear Hearn | biophysicist | 1940- | ||||
Gloria Conyers Hewitt | mathematician | 1935- | ||||
Mary Elliott Hill | chemist | 1907-1969 | ||||
Stephanie Hill | engineer | [7][8] | ||||
Jane Hinton | veterinarian | 1919-2003 | ||||
Esther A. H. Hopkins | chemist | 1926- | [9] | |||
Ruth Winifred Howard | psychologist | 1900-1997 | ||||
Fern Hunt | mathematician | 1948- | ||||
Yasmin Hurd | neuroscientist |
Image | Name | Field(s) | Dates | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jedidah Isler | astrophysicist | ||||
Nia Imara | astrophysicist and artist |
Image | Name | Field(s) | Dates | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Deborah J. Jackson | aeronautical engineer | ||||
Fatimah Jackson | biological anthropologist | ||||
Shirley Ann Jackson | physicist | 1946- | President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | ||
Chavonda Jacobs-Young | paper scientist | ||||
Mae Jemison | astronaut and physician | 1956- | first African American woman to travel in space | [10] | |
Allene Johnson | chemist | 1933– | [11] | ||
Ashanti Johnson | geochemist and oceanographer | ||||
Katherine Johnson | mathematician | 1918-2020 | calculated the trajectories for many NASA missions, including Apollo 11 | ||
Tracy L. Johnson | molecular and cell biologist | ||||
Anna Johnson Julian | sociologist | 1903-1994 | |||
Lynda Marie Jordan | biochemist | 1956– | [12] |
Image | Name | Field(s) | Dates | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sinah Estelle Kelley | chemist | 1916-1982 | worked on mass production of penicillin | [13] | |
Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner | 1912-2006 | [14] | |||
Angie Turner King | chemist and mathematician | 1905–2004 | [15] | ||
Reatha King | chemistry | 1938- | |||
Ruth G. King | Educational psychologist | 1933- | First woman president of the Association of Black Psychologists | [16] |
Image | Name | Field(s) | Dates | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Margaret Morgan Lawrence | pediatric psychiatrist | 1914–2019 | researched negative psychological effects of segregation on Black children | [17] | |
Katheryn Emanuel Lawson | chemist | 1926–2008 | [18] | ||
Lillian Burwell Lewis | zoolologist | ||||
Chekesha Liddell | material science and engineering | ||||
Ruth Smith Lloyd | anatomist | 1917-1995 | |||
Farah Lubin | Neuroscientist | ||||
Irene Long | aerospace medicine | 1951- | |||
Beebe Steven Lynk | chemist | 1872– | [19] |
Image | Name | Field(s) | Dates | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Shirley M. Malcom | science administrator | 1946- | head of education and human resources programs at AAAS | [20] | |
Harriet Marble | pharmacist | 1885-1966 | early African-American woman pharmacist | ||
Cora Bagley Marrett | sociologist, science administrator | 1942- | [21] | ||
Pamela McCauley-Bush | [22][23] | ||||
Dorothy McClendon | microbiologist | 1924- | [24] | ||
Linda C. Meade-Tollin | biochemist | 1944– | [25] | ||
Juanita Merchant | physiologist | ||||
Shireen Mitchell | |||||
Ruth Ella Moore | bacteriology | 1903–1994 | first African-American woman with PhD in a natural science, department head at Howard University | ||
Tanya Moore | [26] | ||||
Willie Hobbs Moore | engineering, physics | 1934–1994 | first African American woman to receive a PhD in physics | [27] |
Image | Name | Field(s) | Dates | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Shelia Nash-Stevenson | Physicist, integration engineer | integration engineer for the Planetary Programs Missions Office at Marshall Space Flight Center | |||
Ann T. Nelms | |||||
Lyda D. Newman | Inventor |
Image | Name | Field(s) | Dates | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Joan Murrell Owens | marine biologist | 1933- | expert on button corals | [28] |
Image | Name | Field(s) | Dates | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Carolyn Parker | mathematician, physicist | 1917–1966 | worked on the Dayton Project, the plutonium research and development arm of the Manhattan Project
first African-American woman known to have gained a postgraduate degree in physics |
||
Jennie Patrick | chemical engineering | 1949– | [29] | ||
Hattie Scott Peterson | civil engineer | 1913–1993 | believed to be the first African-American woman to gain a bachelor's degree in civil engineering | ||
Clarice Phelps | nuclear chemist | first African-American woman to help discover a chemical element | [30] | ||
Vivian W. Pinn | pathologist | 1941- | Director of the Office of Research on Women's Health at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) | [31] | |
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein | theoretical physicist, astrophysicist, cosmologist, writer | 1982 - | possibly first African-American woman to hold a faculty position in theoretical cosmology | ||
Jessie Isabelle Price | veterinary microbiologist | 1930-2015 | isolated and reproduced the cause of the most common life-threatening disease in duck farming in the 1950s | [32] | |
Sian Proctor | African American explorer, scientist, STEM communicator, and aspiring astronaut | geology, sustainability and planetary science professor | |||
Johnnie Hines Watts Prothro | chemist | 1922–2009 | food chemistry and nutrition | [33] |
Image | Name | Field(s) | Dates | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lynnae Quick | planetary scientist, planetary geophysicist | 1984 - | Ocean worlds Planetary Scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; fifth African-American woman to receive a Ph.D. in planetary science; first African American staff scientist in the history of the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, where she worked from 2017 to 2019; Asteroid 2001 SV 291 was renamed Asteroid 37349 Lynnaequick in honor of her work modeling cryovolcanic eruptions and faculae formation on Ceres. First African American to receive the American Astronomical Society's Harold C. Urey Prize which is the highest honor for young planetary scientists and recognizes outstanding achievement in the field of planetary science by an early career researcher. |
Image | Name | Field(s) | Dates | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mary Logan Reddick | neuroembryologist, biologist | 1914 - 1966 | possibly the first African-American woman scientist to receive a fellowship to study abroad, and the first female biology instructor at Morehouse College | ||
Eslanda Goode Robeson | chemist | 1896–1965 | [34] | ||
Gladys W. Royal | chemist | 1926–2002 | [35] |
Image | Name | Field(s) | Dates | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Antoinette Rodez Schiesler | chemist, director of research at Villanova University | 1934 - 1996 | |||
Lyndsey Scott | computer programmer | 1984- | |||
Alberta Jones Seaton | embryologist, biologist | 1924-2014 | One of the first African-American women awarded a doctorate in zoology, in Belgium in 1949. | ||
Nashlie Sephus | Artificial intelligence engineer | AI engineer, CTO of startup Partpic (acquired by Amazon) PhD from Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019 Ada Lovelace Award | |||
Cheryl L. Shavers | semiconductor engineering and management | 1953- | first African-American Undersecretary of Commerce for Science and Technology | [36] | |
Mabel Keaton Staupers | Nursing administrator | 1890 - 1989 | Instrumental in implementing the desegregation of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps during WWII | [37] | |
Susan McKinney Steward | pediatrician, homeopath | 1847-1918 | the third African-American woman to earn a medical degree, and the first in New York state. | ||
Moogega Cooper Stricker | Planetary protection engineer | 1985-20?? | NASA engineer working on Mars 2020 rover. | ||
Thyrsa Frazier Svager | mathematician | 1930-1999 | one of the first African-American women to receive a PhD in mathematics | ||
Latanya Sweeney | computer scientist | computer scientist best known for work on k-anonymity |
Image | Name | Field(s) | Dates | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Valerie Thomas | physicist and inventor | 1943- | Inventor of the Illusion Transmitter Overseer of NASA's Landsat program, international expert in Landsat data products |
||
Lisette Titre-Montgomery | Game Developer | 1998- | Art Director and Game Developer . Lisette has contributed to some of the industry's highest profile games, including Tiger Woods Golf, The Simpsons, Dante's Inferno, Dance Central 3, SIMS 4, South Park, and Transformers Age Of Extinction for Android and iOS. Her most recent project is Psychonauts 2 with Double Fine Productions. | [26] | |
Margaret E. M. Tolbert | chemist and science administrator | 1943- | the first African American and the first woman in charge of a Department of Energy lab | [38] | |
Rubye Prigmore Torrey | chemist | 1926– | [39] |
Image | Name | Field(s) | Dates | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Powtawche Valerino | mechanical engineer |
Image | Name | Field(s) | Dates | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chelsea Walton | mathematician | 1983 – | |||
Dawn Ward | synthetic chemist | 1973 – | Chemist creating molecules active against Hepatitis C virus | [40] | |
Gladys West | mathematician | 1930 – | work on satellite geodesy models used in GPS | ||
Jessica Ware | evolutionary biologist, entomologist. | work on phylogenomics of insect evolution | |||
Marguerite Williams | geologist | 1895 – 1991? | the first African American to earn a doctorate in geology in the United States | ||
Geraldine Pittman Woods | science administrator | 1921–1999 | known for her lifelong dedication to community service and for establishing programs that promote minorities in STEM fields, scientific research, and basic research | [41] | |
Dawn Wright | oceanographer, geographer | 1961- | expert in seafloor mapping, marine geographic information systems | [42][43] | |
Jane C. Wright | cancer researcher, surgeon | 1919-2013 | pioneering cancer researcher and surgeon noted for her contributions to chemotherapy |
Image | Name | Field(s) | Dates | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Josephine Silone Yates | chemist | 1859-1912 | [44] | ||
Chavonda Jacobs-Young | paper science | first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D in paper science | [45] | ||
Roger Arliner Young | zoology | 1889-1964 | first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in Zoology |