Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) People Hidden No More

The 2016 book, Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race, and the subsequent film by the same name released later that year, introduced the world to three remarkable women, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, all mathematicians for NASA who in the early 1960s helped put the first U.S. astronauts in space. There are hundreds of other little known pioneers in mathematics and other STEM fields who are now profiled on BlackPast. Our goal is the end their obscurity. Many of those little-known women and men are listed below in their respective fields. Learn about their lives and accomplishments in their profiles. There are far more individuals who only await volunteers to write their profiles. Please help bring their stories to the general public by writing about them for BlackPast. If you are interested please contact us at volunteer@blackpast.org.

Science

Agronomy:

George Washington Carver, 1864?-1943

Anatomy:

Ruth Smith Lloyd, 1917-1995

Astronomy:

Benjamin Banneker, 1731-1806

Gibor Saul Basri, 1951-

Astrophysics:

Arthur Bertram Cuthbert Walker, Jr., 1936-2001

 

Biology:

Alfred Coffin. 1861-?

Ernest E. Just, 1883-1941

Roger Arliner Young, 1889-1964

William Montague Cobb, 1904-1990

Samuel Milton Nabrit, 1905-2003

Mary Logan Reddick, 1914-1966

James Monroe Jay, 1927-2008

Jewel Plumber Cobb, 1924-

Evelyn Carmon Nicol, 1930-2020

Robert Kent Trench, 1940-

Sheila Minor Huff, 1947-

Lynika Sharlice Strozier 1984-2020

 

Botany:

Jesse Jarue Mark, Jr., 1905-1971

O’Neil Ray Collins, 1931-1989

Muriel E. Poston, 1950-

 

Chemistry:

Saint Elmo Brady, 1884-1966

Alice Augusta Ball, 1892-1916

Percy Lavon Julian, 1899-1975

William Jacob Knox, Jr., 1904-1995

Angie Lena Turner King, 1905-2004

Thomas Nelson Baker, Jr., 1906-1977

Lawrence Howland Knox. 1906-1966

Nathaniel Olgesby Calloway, 1907-1979

Harold Bethuel Evans, 1907-1995

George Sherman Carter, 1911-1998

Moddie Daniel Taylor,1912-1976

James Ellis Lu Valle, 1912-1993

Edwin Roberts Russell, 1913-1996

Lloyd Ferguson, 1918-

Lloyd Albert Quarterman, 1918-1982

Samuel Proctor Massie, 1919-2005

Harold Delaney, 1919-1994

Marie Maynard Daly, 1921-1994

Ralph Alexander Gardner, 1922-

Dolphus Milligan, 1928-1973

James Tyson Tildon, 1931-

Wade Kornegay, 1934-

Bertram Oliver Fraser-Reid, 1934-

Fillmore Freeman, 1936-

John W. Macklin, 1939-

Betty Wright Harris, 1940-

Phillip O. Crews, 1943-

Isiah Warner, 1946-

Robert Louis Shepard, 1947-

Thomas Mensah, 1950-

 

Environmental Studies:

John Francis, 1946-

Robert Doyle Bullard, 1946-

 

Geology:

Marguerite Thomas Williams, 1895-1991

Geophysics:

Randolph Wilson Bromery, 1926-2013

Meteorology:

Charles Edward Anderson, 1919-1994

Warren Morton Washington, 1936-

 

Medical Research:

George Franklin Grant, 1847-1910

Solomon Carter Fuller, 1872-1953

William Harry Barnes, 1887-1945

Louis Tompkins Wright, 1891-1952

Julian H. Lewis, 1891-1989

May Edward Chinn, 1896-1980

Dorothy Celeste Boulding Ferebee, 1898-1980

William Montague Cobb, 1904-1990

Charles R. Drew, 1904-1950

Frederick D. Stubbs, 1906-1947

Helen Octavia Dickens, 1909-2001

Roland Scott, 1909-2002

Howard Venable, 1913-1998

Jane Cooke Wright, 1919-

Jane Hinton, 1919-2003

LaSalle D. Leffall Jr., 1930-2019

John K. Haynes, 1943-

Renty B. Franklin, 1945-

Roderic Ivan Pettigrew, 1951-

Camara Phyllis Jones, 1955-

Keith Black, 1957-

Otis Webb Brawley, 1959-

Tomeka L. Suber, 1980-

Michael D.L. Johnson, 1982-

Kizzmekia Shanta Corbett, 1986-

Christopher Barnes 1986-

Olubukola Abiona, 1995-

 

Microbiology:

Harold Amos, 1918-2003

Jessie Isabelle Price, 1930-2015

Dale Brown Emeagwali, 1954-

 

Nutrition Science:

Flemmie Kittrell, 1904-1980

 

Oceanography:

Edward Lancelot Miles, 1936-2016

Samuel George Harker Philander, 1942-

Evan B. Forde, 1952-

 

Physics:

Edward Alexander Bouchet, 1852-1918

Elmer Samuel Imes, 1883-1941

Warren Elliott Henry, 1909-2001

Jasper Brown Jeffries, 1912-1994

Julius Henry Taylor, 1914-2011

Walter Samuel McAfee, 1914-1995

Willie Hobbs Moore, 1934-1994

Ronald Elbert Mickens, 1943-

George Campbell Jr., 1945-

Warren Buck, 1946-

Sylvester James Gates, 1950-

Joseph Salvadore Francisco, Jr., 1955-

Arlie O. Petters, 1964-

 

Plant Physiology:

Marion Antoinette Richards Myles (1917-1969)

 

Zoology:

Pedro Barbosa, 1966-

Charles Henry Turner, 1867-1923

 

Technology

 

Computer Science:

Marsha Rhea Williams, 1948-

Philip Emeagwali, 1954-

William Murrell, 1955-

Barry Cooper, 1956-

Mark Dean, 1957-

Derrick Brown, 1969-

Malcolm CasSelle, 1970-

Lisa Gelobter, 1971-

 

Graphic Design:

George Elliot Olden, 1920-1975

 

Inventions/Innovations:

Thomas L. Jennings, 1791-1856

Norbert Rillieux, 1806-1894

Henry Blair, 1807-1860

Joseph W. Winters, 1816-1916

Alexander P. Ashbourne, 1820-1915

Leonard C. Bailey, 1825-1918

Judy W. Reed, c.1826-?

John P. Parker, 1827-1900

Benjamin Bradley, 1830-?

Sarah Boone, 1832-1904

Alexander Miles, 1838-1918

William B. Purvis, 1838-1914

Samuel Scrotton, 1843-1905

Elijah McCoy, 1843-1929

George Franklin Grant, 1847-1910

Lewis H. Latimer, 1848-1928

Jan Ernst Matzeliger, 1852-1887

Sarah Elisabeth Goode, c.1855?-1905

Granville T. Woods, 1856-1910

Hamilton Hatter, 1856-1942

Philip B. Downing, 1857-1934

Miriam Elizabeth Benjamin, 1861-1947

John Lee Love, ?-1931

Charles B. Brooks, 1865- ?

Alfred L. Cralle, 1866–1920

Charles Chappelle, 1872-1941

Garrett A. Morgan, Sr., 1877?-1963

Richard Spikes, 1878-1965

William Chester Ruth, 1882-1971

Henry Binga Dismond, 1891-1956

Frederick McKinley Jones, 1893-1961

Alice H. Parker, 1895- ?

Marjorie Stewart Joyner, 1896-1994

David Nelson Crosthwait Jr., 1898-1976

Bessie Blount Griffin, 1914-2009

Otis Frank Boykin, 1920-1982

Marie Van Brittan Brown, 1922–1999

Emmett Chappelle, 1925-

Gloria Twine Chisum, 1930-

James Edward Maceo West, 1931-

Henry Thomas Sampson, Jr., 1934-

Raye Jean Jordan Montague 1935-2018

George Carruthers, 1939-

Patricia Era Bath, 1942-

Marian R. Croak, 1955-

Janet Emerson Bashen, 1957-

Mark Dean, 1957-

Robert F. Smith, 1962-

 

Video Game Design:

Gerald “Jerry” Anderson Lawson, 1940-2011

Lisette Titre, 1977-

 

Engineering

 

General:

Yvonne Young Clark, 1929-2019
Eugene M. Deloatch, 1936-
National Society of Black Engineers, 1975-

 

Aerospace:

Gordon Alexander McHenry, 1921-2001

Richard Collins, 1939-

Wesley Leroy Harris, 1941-

Walt Braithwaite, 1945-

Darryll John Pines, 1964-

Jeanette Epps, 1970-

 

Architectural:

Archie Alphonso Alexander, 1888-1958

 

Chemical:

Virgil Garnett Trice, Jr., 1926-1997

Jennie R. Patrick, 1949-

Lisa Perez Jackson, 1962-

 

Civil:

Henry O. Flipper, 1856-1940

Frederick McDonald Massiah, 1886–1975

John Slaughterm, 1933-

 

Computer Graphics Engineering:

Marc Regis Hannah, 1956-

 

Electronic Engineering:

Rufus P. Turner, 1907-1982

 

Industrial:

Charles Harrison, 1931-

 

Landscape Engineer:

Garnet Douglass Baltimore, 1859-1946

 

Mechanical:

Robert Robinson, 1906-1994

Naval Engineering:

Ray Jean Jordan Montague, 1935-

 

Nuclear:

Henry Thomas Sampson, 1934-

 

Mathematics

General:

Thomas Fuller, 1710–1790

Benjamin Banneker, 1731-1806

Kelly Miller, 1863-1939

Martha Euphemia Lofton Haynes, 1890-1980

Dorothy Johnson Vaughan, 1910–2008

Sylvanus Alexander Tyler, 1914-1986

Marjorie Lee Browne, 1914–1979

Katherine Goble Johnson, 1918-

Mary Winston Jackson, 1921–2005

Eunice Gray Smith, 1923-2006

Evelyn Boyd, 1924-

Albert Turner Bharucha-Reid, 1927-1985

Charles Bernard Bell, Jr., 1928-2010

Gladys Mae West, 1930-

Vivienne Malone-Mayes, 1932-1995

Annie J. Easley, 1933-2011

Etta Zuber Falconer, 1933–2002

Gloria Conyers Hewitt, 1935-

David Rice Hedgley Jr., 1937-

Floyd Leroy Williams, 1939-

 

Statistics:

David Harold Blackwell, 1919-2010

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