7 Black Women in STEM That You Need To Know
In honor of Black History Month, and the International Day of Women and girls in Science, we’re highlighting seven inspiring female trailblazers who paved the way for women and girls in STEM.
Valerie L. Thomas
Retired physicist and inventor, Valerie began her professional career as a mathematical/data analyst at NASA. She worked her way up to NASA’s imaging processing team for Landsat — the first satellite to send multispectral images used to examine the Earth’s resources from outer space. Valerie Thomas also invented the illusion transmitter, for which she received a patent in 1980. Her transmitter is still used by NASA to this day, and produces three-dimensional optical illusions by way of two concave mirrors and light rays.
Dr. May Edward Chinn
Dr. Chinn was the first Black woman to graduate from New York’s Bellevue Hospital Medical College, the first Black woman to intern at Harlem Hospital, and the first woman allowed to ride in the hospital’s ambulance during emergency calls! At a time when Black doctors were not encouraged to complete hospital residencies, Chinn opened her own private practice in New York.
Dr. Marie Maynard Daly
Pioneering biochemist Dr. Marie Maynard Daly became the first Black woman in the U.S. to earn a Ph.D in chemistry. A native of Queens, Daly credited her mother with cultivating her love for science and her fascination with the inner workings of the human body. She graduated with honors from Queens College in 1942, and went on to earn a graduate degree from NYU, along with master’s and doctorate degrees from Columbia University.
A valiant researcher, Daly landed a grant from the American Cancer Society in 1948, which led to a seven-year study on how the body constructs proteins. In the mid-1950s, Daly returned to Columbia where she studied the cause of heart attacks and outlined the connection between diet and heart health.
Dr. Patricia S. Cowings
Aeropace psychophysiologist and inventor, Dr. Patricia S. Cowings has spent years studying the physiological effects that being in space has on the human body, in turn, helping astronauts adapt to space. A native of the Bronx and graduate of UC Davis, she is the first woman to be trained as a NASA scientist astronaut and in 1997, she invented the Autogenic-Feedback Training systems and methods, which can be used to help humans voluntarily control 24 bodily reactions including breathing, heart rate and sweating. Dr. Cowings currently works as a researcher at NASA’s Ames Research Center in the Human Systems Integration Division, and is the lead investigator of the Psychophysiological Research Lab.
Dr. Latanya Sweeney
An award-winning computer scientist and Professor of Government and Technology in Residence at Harvard University, Dr. Latanya Sweeney is best known for co-introducing the theory of k-anonymity. According to her website, her mission is to “create and use technology to assess and solve societal, political and governance problems.” In 2001, Sweeney became the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Donna Auguste, PhD
Donna Auguste discovered an interest in engineering at a young age. She earned a B.S. in electrical engineering & computer science from UC Berkeley, a master’s degree from Carnegie-Mellon University, and a Ph.D. in Technology, Media and Society at the ATLAS Institute of the University of Colorado Boulder! Her research includes sensors and actionable data science. During the early 1980s, she worked as a software engineer at IntelliCorp, prior to becoming a lead software engineer at Apple Computers where she held multiple patents for her work on the Newton personal digital assistant (PDA), which is considered an early inclination of Apple’s iPhone and iPad. She is also the founder of the Auguste Research Group and has been a champion of diversity in STEM.
Dr. Patricia Bath
Physician, inventor, and graduate from Howard University College of Medicine, Patricia Bath became the first black doctor to obtain a medical patent for the laserphaco probe, a device used to treat cataract patients. Bath also became the first Black person to complete an ophthalmology residency in the U.S. Even more exciting, she later became the first woman to chair an ophthalmology program, and the was first female ophthalmologist to be appointed to faculty at UCLA’s Jules Stein Eye Institute.
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