Dr. Lloyd Quarterman
(1918-1982)We are in an age of discovery, we live in the world of the unknown. That's the only place to live.
—Lloyd Quarterman
Dr. Lloyd Quarterman was one of the African American nuclear scientists involved in the production of the atomic bomb. He worked with two of the most illustrious scientific minds of the twentieth century—Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi.
Dr. Quarterman worked at two of the major laboratories concerned with nuclear research, located at Columbia University in New York City and at Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago, Illinois.
While he was at Columbia University, he worked with many of the world's leading scientists, including Einstein. He was also involved in the the top-secret Manhattan Project, which was aimed at developing an atomic bomb. When the Manhattan project was officially closed, Quarterman received a certificate of recognition for "work essential to the production of the Atomic Bomb, thereby contributing to the successful conclusion of World War II."
After the war, the hitherto secret facility at the University of Chicago officially became the Argonne National Laboratories. It was at Argonne that Quarterman worked with Enrico Fermi, where he recalls: "We split the atom in the East. We were working there on the Atomic Bomb. But the world's first nuclear reactor, which used the atomic splitting process in a peaceful way, was set up here in Chicago. It was under an Italian scientist, Enrico Fermi... I did all my quantum mechanics under him."
Argonne was the center for the design and development of nuclear reactors. Quarterman worked as a member of a team of scientists, contributing to the first full-scale use of controlled nuclear energy. At Argonne, they made the first reactor for Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine.
Not contented to rest on his laurels, Quarterman augmented his knowledge of chemistry and physics and also worked as a fluoride chemist. Working with a team that "led the world in fluoride chemistry," they created new compounds or, as he puts it, "invent[ed] molecules" from the reaction of fluorine atoms with "noble" gases (so called because they stood on their own)—xenon, argon and krypton.
Quarterman was also involved in spectroscopy. He devised a corrosive-resistant "diamond window" to study the complex molecular structure of hydrogen fluoride, the world's most powerful solvent. Modestly, he chose not to call it an invention, but "a first discovery trial."
He had also given some serious thought to "synthetic blood" but he stated that "[his] process never got off the ground... [as he] ran into socio-political problems."
www.blackhistorypages.net/pages/lquarterman.php
Lybrease WoodardLybrease Woodard, Payload Operations Director at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., leads flight controllers in planning and coordinating science activities for crews onboard the International Space Station. (Credit: NASA Marshall)
NASA engineer Lybrease Woodard orchestrates science operations aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as if she's conducting a symphony. She leads a complex, talented group of players and instruments, whose scientific findings are music to so many ears here on Earth.
Woodard's "podium," however, is earthbound. As a NASA payload operations director, she orchestrates ISS science activities from the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Ala.
"When I watch space crews carry out activities I helped plan, I feel like I'm right there beside them, helping them successfully complete the job," Woodard said.
That achievement is important to Woodard, a Huntsville native whose close-knit African-American family fostered her strong work ethic. "They instilled in me a positive belief system that I could accomplish great things," she said.
After graduating in 1977 from Huntsville High School, where she concentrated on math and science, Woodard signed up for MSFC's cooperative education program. The program introduces high school graduates to the NASA workforce the summer prior to their first semester in college.
"I was recommended for the program by my high school guidance counselor, which speaks very highly of the important role counselors play in identifying potential in our high school kids," Woodard said.
In 1981, Woodard, the youngest of four children, became the first of her siblings to graduate from college. She received an industrial engineering degree from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Since then, she has continued her NASA career, supporting numerous space crews who have performed hundreds of experiments on Spacelab, a laboratory that carried out science missions inside the Space Shuttle's payload bay, and the ISS.
Today, Woodard leads a team of flight controllers responsible for all science aboard the ISS, the most sophisticated, world-class laboratory ever placed in orbit. She paved the way for ISS science operations when she served as the lead payload operations director for Expedition 2, from March to August 2001.
Expedition 2 was the second research mission on the ISS and the first to use the Station's Destiny laboratory. It also was the first expedition with science operations controlled 24 hours a day, seven days a week by the Payload Operations Center cadre at MSFC. Woodard, a pioneer in NASA crew operations, helped ensure the success of Expedition 2 by leading a team of more than 60 flight controllers.
Woodard's success led to her next assignment, a lead payload operations director on Expedition 8, the current crew aboard the ISS. During the expedition, the science team in space and on the ground performs research across a variety of scientific disciplines that will contribute to our understanding of the human body in space, Earth's environment, medicine, manufacturing processes and other fields.
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I am blessed when I can make someone's dreams come true," Woodard said. "If I can make this happen for the scientists by implementing their desires, then I consider myself a success; and, if I can add to the ISS crew's probability for success by dotting the i's and crossing the t's, then it has been a good day."
George R. Carruthers(source) Born 1 Oct 1939
African-American astrophysicist who was the principal inventor of a new space camera to measure ultraviolet light which can be used to identify interstellar atoms and molecules. After several years in development, it was taken to the moon on the Apollo 16 mission (1972). Positioned on the moon's surface, the camera could also image the gases of the Earth's atmosphere. The concentration of the pollutants, such as carbon monoxide, in the air surrounding large cities could be determined for many cities at the same time. Other space cameras developed by Carruthers and his colleagues have surveyed the ozone layer and transmitted photos of distant stars and planets for computer analysis. He also pioneered in the development of electronic telescopes.
Physicist George Edward Alcorn, JrPhysicist George Edward Alcorn, Jr. is best known for his development of the imaging x-ray spectrometer. An x-ray spectrometer assists scientists in identifying a material by producing an x-ray spectrum of it, allowing it to be examined visually. This is especially advantageous when the material is not able to be broken down physically. Alcorn patented his “method for fabricating an imaging x-ray spectrometer” in 1984. He was cited for his method’s innovative use of the thermomigration of aluminum. For this achievement he was recognized with the NASA/GSFC (Goddard Space Flight Center) Inventor of the Year Award.
Aprille Ericsson-JacksonAprille Ericsson-Jackson was the first African American woman to receive a degree in aerospace engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); and later a PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Howard University. With all odds against her-being that this field was nontraditional to women and African Americans-her accomplishments provided amazing opportunities. She has paved the way for young women in science and is included among the "Top 50 Minority Women in Science and Engineering". In 1997, she received the Women in Science and Engineering award, given to the top engineer in the federal government. Ericsson-Jackson is passionate about advocating to women the importance of science and math, stating, "We must reach out to the biggest population of math and science underachievers - girls." She currently works for the guidance, navigation, and control design analysis section at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, located in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Now we are all aware that more Blacks need to get into these kinds of feilds but if left up to the current media you could beleive that they are not there at all and this is current history who is telling their stories?;
this basic lack of info about things happening right now cause folks like simple...to exist.
Gen. Charles Bolden President Barack Obama on Saturday named the first African-American to head NASA, the nation’s space agency.
The announcement was designed to coincide with this week’s return of the space shuttle Atlantis, now pushed back to Sunday.
Gen. Charles Bolden is to be administrator of NASA, and Lori Garver is to be deputy administrator of NASA.
“These talented individuals will help put NASA on course to boldly push the boundaries of science, aeronautics and exploration in the 21st century and ensure the long-term vibrancy of America’s space program,” Obama said.
Here are the bios from the White House’s “intention to nominate” announcement:
Gen. Charles Bolden, Nominee for Administrator of NASA
Charles Bolden retired from the United States Marine Corps in 2003 as the commanding general of the Third Marine Aircraft Wing after serving more than 34 years, and is currently CEO of JackandPanther LLC, a privately held military and aerospace consulting firm. Gen. Bolden began his service in U.S. Marine Corps in 1968. He flew more than 100 sorties in Vietnam from 1972-73. In 1980, he was selected as an astronaut by NASA, flying two space shuttle missions as pilot and two missions as commander. Following the Challenger accident in 1986, Gen. Bolden was named the chief of the safety division at the Johnson Space Center, with responsibilities for overseeing the safety efforts in the return-to-flight efforts. He was appointed assistant deputy administrator of NASA headquarters in 1992. He was senior vice president at TechTrans International Inc. from 2003 until 2005. Gen. Bolden holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis and a M.S. in systems management from the University of Southern California.
Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr. Recognized Achievement:
Astronaut
Bio:
Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr. (October 2, 1935-1967) - The first African-American astronaut, Lawrence graduated from Englewood High School and went on to earn his doctorate in chemistry from Ohio State University. He died in a plane crash while working as an instructor pilot for the Edwards Air Force base in California. Lawrence earned the Air Force recommendation Medal, the Air Force Outstanding Unit Citation, and was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart medal. The Robert H. Lawrence Elementary School in Chicago is named in his honor.
Neil deGrasse Tyson You can think of Neil deGrasse Tyson as the Carl Sagan of the 21st century—as long as you envision a Sagan who's muscular, African American and as cool as his predecessor was geeky. While Sagan used to appear on the Tonight Show to chat professorially with Johnny Carson, Tyson trades quips with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. And you can hardly imagine Sagan's being named Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive by PEOPLE magazine (Tyson got the nod in 2000) or declaring, as Tyson once did, that in high school "I was a nerd who could kick your butt."65. "J. Craig Venter":http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/time100
*NASA Astronaut Stephanie WilsonAstronaut Stephanie Wilson, STS-121 mission specialist. She became interested in being an astronaut when she was about 13. "I was first interested in astronomy when I was given an assignment in school to interview someone in an, that worked in a career field in which I was interested. I have a bachelor's degree in engineering science from Harvard University; and a master's in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. I worked for the former Martin Marietta astronautics group, on the Titan 4 launch vehicle. I did dynamics analysis. I also worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the attitude and articulation control group for the Galileo spacecraft. So for me, working here at Johnson Space Center as an astronaut has been a natural progression from working on the dynamic response of launch vehicles to controlling and testing robotic spacecraft to now having a chance to fly on the Shuttle."
blkav8tor2003.blogspot.com/2009/03/first-all-female-african-american.html
Mae C. Jemison Mae C. Jemison blasted into orbit aboard the space shuttle Endeavor, September 12, 1992, the first woman of color to go into space. This historic event was only another in a series of accomplishments for this dynamic African-American women.
Dr. Jemison was Science Mission Specialist (a NASA first) on the STS-47 Space lab J flight, a US/Japan joint mission. She conducted experiments in life sciences, material sciences, and was co-investigator in the Bone Cell Research experiment. Dr. Jemison resigned from NASA in March 1993.
Chemical engineer, scientist, physician, teacher and astronaut, she has a wide range of experience in technology, engineering, and medical research. In addition to her extensive background in science, she is well-versed in African and African-American Studies and is trained in dance and choreography.
