Sara Diaz, Author at

Independent Historian

Sara Diaz holds a B.A. in chemistry and Spanish language and literature from Whitman College. She worked for several years in the biotechnology industry as an engineer before pursuing her graduate studies at the University of Washington. In 2007, she earned her M.A. in the history of science and twentieth-century U.S. history. Diaz is holds a Bank of America Endowed Minority Fellowship through the UW Graduate Opportunities & Minority Achievement Program and is currently working on her Ph.D. in Women Studies. In her research Diaz examines the strategies and struggles women scientists of color. Her interests include scientists of color, science education; and the social study of the institution of science with respect to race, gender, sexuality, and power. Diaz is a member of the Diversity Committee of the Student Section of the Society for the Social Studies of Science (4s) and serves as the Graduate and Professional Student Senate representative to the Faculty Council on Multicultural Affairs. She is also a participant in the University of Washington Science Studies Network and the Sloan Social Science Research Group.

Marguerite Thomas Williams (1895-ca. 1991)

Marguerite Thomas Williams, born in 1895, was the first African American (male or female) to earn a Ph.D. in geology. Like Roger Arliner Young, Williams was mentored by African American biologist Ernest Everett Just. Williams earned her bachelor’s degree in geology from Howard University in Washington, D.C. in 1923. Just considered … Read MoreMarguerite Thomas Williams (1895-ca. 1991)

Susan Smith McKinney Steward (1847-1918)

Dr. Susan Smith McKinney Steward was the first African American woman to earn a medical doctorate (M.D.) in New York State and the third in the United States. Susan Smith was born to elite Brooklyn parents, Ann Springstead and Sylvanus Smith. She was of mixed … Read MoreSusan Smith McKinney Steward (1847-1918)

Eliza Ann Grier (1864-1902)

Eliza Ann Grier was born enslaved in Mecklenburg, County North Carolina in 1864 but along with her parents, Emily and George Washington Grier, she was freed by the 13th Amendment to the US. Constitution in 1865. Grier eventually earned her M.D., becoming in 1898 the … Read MoreEliza Ann Grier (1864-1902)

Halle Tanner Dillon Johnson (1864-1901)

Dr. Halle Tanner Dillon Johnson was the first female physician to pass the Alabama state medical examination and was the first woman physician at Tuskegee Institute. She was the eldest of nine children born to African Methodist Episcopal bishop Benjamin Tucker Tanner and Sarah Elizabeth … Read MoreHalle Tanner Dillon Johnson (1864-1901)

Rebecca Davis Lee Crumpler (1831-1895)

Dr. Rebecca Davis Lee Crumpler was the first African American woman doctor in the United States. She completed medical school at the New England Female Medical College and received her M.D. in 1864. Rebecca Davis Lee Crumpler was born free on February 8, 1831 to … Read MoreRebecca Davis Lee Crumpler (1831-1895)

Ruth Ella Moore (1903-1994)

Born in 1903 in Columbus, Ohio, Ruth Ella Moore was the first African American woman in the United States to earn a Ph.D. in the natural sciences. Her doctorate was in the field of bacteriology. Moore earned a B.S. in 1926 and a M.S. in … Read MoreRuth Ella Moore (1903-1994)

Marie Maynard Daly Clark (1921-2003)

Marie Maynard Daly, born in Queens, New York to Helen and Ivan Daly, was the first black woman to earn a Ph.D. in Chemistry. Her father, an immigrant from the West Indies, had hoped to earn a degree in Chemistry at Cornell University but was … Read MoreMarie Maynard Daly Clark (1921-2003)

Roger Arliner Young (1889-1964)

Roger Arliner Young, born in Clifton Forge, Virginia in 1889, was the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in zoology and to conduct research at the prestigious Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Young researched the anatomy of paramecium and the effects of … Read MoreRoger Arliner Young (1889-1964)

Mark Dean (1957- )

Dr. Mark Dean, an American inventor and computer engineer, is one of the most important figures in the emergence of the personal computer in the late 20th Century. Three of the nine patents on the original personal computer (PC) by International Business Machines (IBM) are … Read MoreMark Dean (1957- )

Dolores Cooper Shockley (1930- )

Dolores Cooper was the first African American woman in the U.S. to earn a Ph.D. in pharmacology. She was also the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from Purdue University. Cooper was born in 1930 in Clarksdale, Mississippi to a successful family of professionals. … Read MoreDolores Cooper Shockley (1930- )