It’s Black History Month — Have Some Scientists

Photo by Library of Congress on Unsplash

First of all, it would be nice not to need Black History Month (and there’s also something about it being the shortest month). It would be nice to have Black history be taught 12 months a year.

But we do have it and I thought it would be nice to mention a few African-American scientists who did some really awesome work that benefits all of us. I’m trying to come up with people who invented or developed stuff most of us use, with a couple of exceptions. There are so many more, though, and if your favorite’s not on this list? Wrie your own ;).

Patricia Bath

Have you, or anyone you know, had cataract surgery? If so, then the surgeon probably used a laserphaco probe. That’s the device that uses a laser to dissolve the cataract…it’s much faster than manual methods.

But I bet you didn’t know that it was invented by an ophthalmologist from Harlem…a Black woman who was also the first African-American ophthalmologist. She completed her residency the year I was born.

Valerie Thomas

Watching the Winter Olympics this year? Or, for that matter, the Superbowl? Or your favorite…

Thank Valerie Thomas. During her career at NASA, she helped develop image-processing systems that were originally used for…