Black Brilliance

Black facts for you to know

FAMOUS BLACK MATHEMATICIANS

LET THEM BE KNOWN

You do not see many if any, positive images of black people in the media. As a result, black people are completely unaware of the existence of examples of black brilliance. Here is a historical look into quite a few cases of such. From the practical to the unthinkable, black mathematicians have made their mark in the American landscape.

Katherine Johnson

Computerized celestial navigation, calculated trajectories, launch windows and emergency backup return paths for NASA.

David Harold Blackwell

Rao-Blackwell theorem, first African American inducted into the National Academy of Sciences, a first black tenured faculty member at UC Berekely.

Benjamin Banneker

Constructed a wooden clock that struck on the hour, made astronomical calculations that predicted solar eclipses and planetary conjunctions.

Elbert Frank Cox

National Association of mathematics established an address in his name given annually at their meetings, established a scholarship fund given to black students to pursue studies, introduced the generalized Euler polynomials, generalized Boole summation formula, mathematically compared 3 systems of grading.

Scott W. Williams

Founded the black and third world mathematicians (now called the national association of mathematics), partially solved the box-product problem using scales (b=d) from his work in topology.

Marjorie Lee Brown

Proofs of important topological properties, established summer institutes to provide continuing education in mathematics for high school teachers, encouraged women in the field of mathematics, trust fund, scholarship, and lecture series in her name.

Jesse Ernest Wilkins Jr

Founded Howard University’s Ph.D. program, nicknamed ‘negro genius’, attended college at 13, wrote over 100 papers on differential geometry, linear differential equations, integrate, nuclear engineering, shielding, and optics.

Clarence F. Stephens

Doctorate in difference equations, credited with building the most successful US undergraduate mathematics degree program in the past century due to how upset he was at the poor job Morgan State University was doing to teach and inspire students to learn mathematics.

Kelly Miller

Capitalist and race man, neither a supporter of W.E.B. Dubois nor Booker T. Washington he sought to find middle ground by building a comprehensive education system that would provide for ‘symmetrical development’ for black citizens by offering vocational and intellectual instruction, modernized Howard University’s old curriculum by adding courses and natural and social sciences.

Charles L. Reason

Child prodigy teaching math at 14, served as professor at New York central college a majority white school at 29, the first to do so, founded the society for the promotion of education among colored children

Trachette Jackson

Mathematical oncology uses different approaches like continuous and discrete mathematical models, numerical simulations, and experiments to study tumor growth and treatment.

Annie Easley

Implementing computer code that analyzed alternative power technologies, leading moment of the Centaur high-energy upper rocket stage, determined solar, wind and energy projects, identified energy conversion systems.

Evelyn Boyd Granville

Worked on celestial mechanics, trajectory computation, digital computer techniques, developed elementary school math enrichment programs, a strong advocate for women’s education in tech.

Patricia Era Bath

Inventor of the Laserphaco probe, a laser that removes cataracts, first black woman doctor to receive a patent for medical purposes, studied ophthalmology in Yugoslavia.

Dorothy Vaughn

Mathematician and programmer at NASA and NACA, leader of a group of black women who made complex mathematical computations by hand, taught herself the programming language FORTRAN and taught it to her team to prepare for the transition from hand done calculations to digital.