Top Ten Famous Black Inventors

Scientist George Carruthers was born on October 1, 1939, in Cincinnati, Ohio, the eldest of George and Sophia Carruthers' four children. George Carruthers, Sr. was a civil engineer with the U.S. Army Air Corps, and encouraged his son's early interests in science.

Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, a theoretical physicist and famous black inventor, has been credited with making many advances in science. She first developed an interest in science and mathematics during her childhood and conducted experiments and studies, such as those on the eating habits of honeybees.

Percy Lavon Julian (April 11, 1899 – April 19, 1975) was an African American research chemist and a pioneer in the chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs from plants. He was the first to synthesize the natural product physostigmine, and a pioneer in the industrial large-scale chemical synthesis of the human hormones progesterone and testosterone from plant sterols such as stigmasterol and sitosterol.

Madame C. J. Walker Born: December 23, 1867 Died: May 25, 1919 Occupation: Inventor/Businesswoman Sarah Breedlove Walker was an inventor and businesswoman, and became one of the largest employers of African-American women of her time.

Not many inventors have resumes as impressive as George Edward Alcorn's. Among his credits, the African-American inventor received a B.A. in physics, a master's degree in nuclear physics and a Ph.D in atomic and molecular physics.

McBay was born "Henry Ransom McBay" (named from his maternal grandfather, Henry Ransom) in 1914 in Mexia, Texas. His father, William Cecil McBay, was a barber who eventually became a funeral director; his mother, Roberta Ransom (McBay), was a seamstress.

Lloyd Hall – Black Inventor Thanks to modern technology the storing and preservation is no longer an issue of concern, but in the 1800’s, keeping ones food fresh enough to eat was a major problem.

Inventor Emmett Chappelle is the recipient of 14 U.S. patents and was recently recognized as one of the 100 most distinguished African-American scientists and engineers of the 20th Century. Chappelle was born on October 24, 1925, in Phoenix, Arizona, to Viola White Chappelle and Isom Chappelle.

Katherine G. Johnson was born Katherine Coleman on August 26, 1918, in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. A bright child with a gift for numbers, she breezed through her classes and completed the eighth grade by age 10.

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson hosted NOVA ScienceNow and makes media appearances to encourage science and space exploration. Who Is Neil deGrasse Tyson? Born and raised in New York City, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson discovered his love for the stars at an early age.

Ernest Everett Just (August 14, 1883 – October 27, 1941) was a pioneering African-American biologist, academic and science writer. Just's primary legacy is his recognition of the fundamental role of the cell surface in the development of organisms.

Marie Maynard Daly First African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry (1947) Conducted pioneering research on the effects of hypertension (high blood pressure) and blockage in arteries leading to a better understanding of how heart attacks are caused.

Alice Augusta Ball (July 24, 1892 – December 31, 1916) was an African American chemist who developed an injectable oil extract that was the most effective treatment for leprosy until the 1940s.

In 1876, Edward Alexander Bouchet became the first African American to earn a doctorate degree in the United States. Synopsis Born in 1852 in New Haven, Connecticut, Edward Alexander Bouchet graduated valedictorian from Hopkins Grammar School in 1870.

Saint Elmo Brady was born on December 22, 1884 in Louisville, Kentucky. Greatly influenced by Thomas W. Talley, a pioneer in the teaching of science, Brady received his bachelor's degree from Fisk University in 1908 at the age of 24, and immediately began teaching at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

Roger Arliner Young; Born: 1889 Clifton Forge ... a prominent black biologist and head of the Zoology ... African American Women Scientists and Inventors, ...

Sylvester James Gates Jr. (born December 15, 1950), known as S. James Gates the 6th or Jim Gates, is an American theoretical physicist who works on supersymmetry, supergravity, and superstring theory.

Charles Henry Turner, a zoologist and scholar, was the first person to discover that insects can hear and alter behavior based on previous experience. Synopsis Born in 1867 in Cincinnati, Ohio, Charles Henry Turner was a pioneering African-American scientist and scholar.

In 1980, she patented it. In operation, concave mirrors are set up on both ends of the transmission. The net effect of this is an optical illusion of a 3-dimensional image that looks real on the receiving end. This brilliant innovation placed Thomas among the most prominent black inventors of the 20th century.

Jesse Ernest Wilkins Jr. (November 27, 1923 – May 12, 2011) was an African American nuclear scientist, mechanical engineer and mathematician. He attended the University of Chicago at the age of 13, becoming its youngest ever student.

After completing his postdoctoral research, Jarvis joined the faculty of The Rockefeller University as an adjunct assistant professor and also participated in the Science Outreach Program of New York where he taught laboratory skills to inner city high school students.

Hawkins was born on March 21,1911, in Washington, D.C. His father was a lawyer for the U.S. Census Bureau and his mother was a science teacher in the District of Columbia school system. When he was young, Hawkins was fascinated with how things worked.

Ronald Ervin McNair, Ph.D. (October 21, 1950 – January 28, 1986) was an African-American physicist and NASA astronaut. McNair perished during the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-51-L.

Graves, Joseph L. 1955 ... The first black person on record to have successfully performed pericardium (the sac surrounding the heart) surgery to repair a wound.

Arlie Oswald Petters, MBE (born February 8, 1964) is a Belizean-American mathematical physicist, who is the Benjamin Powell Professor of Mathematics and a Professor Physics and Economics at Duke University.

Branson was a physicist and chemist who was responsible for discovering the alpha-helix protein structure in biological systems. He was educated at Virginia State College in 1936 where he earned a bachelor’s in physics. After graduating, Branson went on to the University of Cincinnati to obtain his Ph.D. in physics.

In 1945 when W.W.II ended, Quarterman was recognized with a certificate from the US War Department for helping to bring the war to an end." Here is a sample of that which appears on many websites. Dr. Lloyd Quarterman was one of the African American nuclear scientists involved in the production of the atomic bomb.

This list of black inventors and scientists documents many of the African Americans who have invented a multitude of items or made discoveries in the ... McWhorter, John:

McAfee graduated from Wiley College with a BS in mathematics in 1934, and received an master's degree at Ohio State University in 1937. He subsequently took a job in 1939 teaching physics in Columbus, Ohio.

George Washington Carver was born in 1860 in Diamond Grove, Missouri and despite early difficulties would rise to become one of the most celebrated and respected scientists in United States history. His important discoveries and methods enabled farmers through the south and midwest to become profitable and prosperous.