Black History Month Celebrates Math Women

     Black mathematicians and female mathematicians often have not been given the credit they deserve -- and I have been delighted to find this website that features eleven famous African-American mathematicians --  six of which are women.   This website celebrates: 

2.) Fern Hunt (1948-   )     Fern Hunt is best known for her work in applied mathematics and mathematical biology. Throughout her great career, she has been involved with biomathematics, patterns in genetic variation, and chaos theory.   She currently works as an educator and presenter with the aim of encouraging women and minority students to pursue graduate degrees in mathematics and other STEM fields. 

5.) Katherine Johnson (1918-2020)  Katherine Johnson was the main character of the critically acclaimed film "Hidden Figures." Her contributions in the field of orbital mechanics, alongside fellow female African American mathematicians Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, were critical to the United States’ success in putting astronaut John Glenn into orbit in 1962.  She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2015.

6.) Valerie Thomas (1943- . . .)  Valerie Thomas is a scientist and inventor best known for inventing the Illusion Transmitter in 1980. This technology was the first of its kind in the field of 3D-imagery and is the basis for modern 3D-televisions, video games, and movies.

9.) Euphemia Lofton Haynes (1890–1980)  Euphemia Lofton Haynes is famous for being the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics, which she achieved from the Catholic University of America in 1943.  After earning her Ph.D., she embarked on a 47-year career of advocacy for students of color . . . During this time, she was also a math professor at the District of Columbia Teachers College.   

10.) Annie Easley (1933-2011)   Annie Easley is famous NASA computer and rocket scientist and mathematician who contributed to several space programs, inspired others through her participation in numerous outreach programs, and broke down barriers for both women and African Americans in STEM. 

11.) Mae Carol Jemison (1956- . . .)  Mae Carol Jemison is a mathematician, engineer, physician, and astronaut. In 1992, she became the first African American woman to visit space when she went into orbit aboard NASA’s Space Shuttle Endeavour.

Read more about these outstanding women here.

Also included earlier in this blog, the following poem is one I offer again here -- a mathy poem by Rita Dove about opening to new ideas.  Dove is youngest poet and the first African American to serve as Poet Laureate of the United States (1993-95).   

from The Yellow House on The Corner (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1980)