Science & Engineering

Archie Alphonse Alexander was born in Ottumwa, Iowa and lived on a farm outside Des Moines. He attended Des Moines College and attempted to join the all-white football team. He was denied the opportunity to play, so he transferred to the University of Iowa. He became the first African-American football player in school history and became the first African-American to graduate from the university. In addition, he became the first person to graduate from the University of Iowa's College of Engineering. After college, he studied bridge design in London, England.

After his studies, Alexander applications for employment were rejected by every construction firm in Des Moines. Unable to find a position, he took a twenty-five cents an hour job as a laborer in a steel shop. After two years, he resigned and started his own engineering company and began designing bridges in Iowa and Minnesota.

In 1929, he took on a white junior partner, Maurice A. Repass because his business was lacking in business contracts due to racial prejudice. The partners expanded the business and soon became so successful that they completed projects in nearly every state. Ebony Magazine called his company, "the nation's most successful interracial business." Their most famous project was the Tidal Basin Bridge and Seawall in Washington, DC.

In the 1920's, Alexander was the president of the Des Moines chapter of the NAACP and of the local Interracial Commission. Like many black Americans before the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt, he was a Republican. Unlike many blacks, he never left the Republican Party. In 1952, he was an early supporter of Dwight D. Eisenhower for President. Eisenhower appointed Alexander the Governor of the Virgin Islands in 1954.

Archie Alexander was a great American who overcame racial prejudice by embracing interracial cooperation in academics, athletics, politics and business practices. Alexander became a leading engineer of the 20th Century.

Banneker was born a free man Ellicott Mills, Maryland. His mother was a free black and his father was a fugitive slave. At a young age, he was taught to read by his white grandmother. He attended a Quaker school for a short time. He borrowed books and became self-taught in mathematics and astronomy.

At the age of 22, Banneker built his own wooden clock. He built the clock based on a timepiece which he had seen only once and crafted the gears within the mechanism to scale. His brilliance caught the eye of George Ellicott, a local gristmill designer, mathematician and astronomer. Ellicott loaned Banneker many of his books which helped him to further develop his skills in mathematics. Banneker eventually learned astronomy and accurately forecasted lunar and solar eclipses.

Major Andrew Ellicott, a family member of George Ellicott, was hired by the Federal Government to survey the boundaries for the District of Columbia. Andrew Ellicott hired Banneker as part of his survey team due to his knowledge of astronomy and mathematics. Using astronomical calculations, Banneker was able to determine the starting point for the survey which would eventually lead to the boundaries of the District of Columbia as they are today.

Banneker also created an ephemeris, an astronomical table of values used to predict the positions of astronomical objects. His ephemeris was published in his almanac that ran from 1792 through 1797. In addition to astronomical calculations, his almanacs had facts concerning literature, medicine, tidal predictions, entomology, politics and agriculture.

Banneker was an outspoken critic of slavery, even going as far as to write a letter to Thomas Jefferson concerning Jefferson's contradictory views on slavery. Jefferson did respond to Banneker's letter and Banneker published his own letter to Jefferson and Jefferson's response in his almanac. Banneker also supported several abolitionist groups in Maryland and Pennsylvania during his lifetime and published many articles on the subject.

Banneker's contributions to America make him one of our country's first great scientists in the fields of mathematics and astronomy. He overcame much discrimination and obstacles because he lived within a slave state. He used his scientific accomplishments as a platform for expressing his views on the plight of slaves in America. He won over the hearts and minds of many in America who wanted to see an end to slavery. Banneker made a positive and lasting mark on his country. He was truly a great American.

Bouchet was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He was allowed to attend the Hopkins School, and elite prep school, from 1868-1870, and was named valedictorian. He then entered Yale College in 1870 and became the first African-American to graduate in 1874. He was ranked sixth of 124 students. He also became the first African-American nominated to the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa Society in 1877. He eventually became a member of the society in 1884.

After graduation, he returned to Yale with financial support of Alfred Cope, a Philadelphia philanthropist. In two years, he completed his dissertation on geometrical optics, becoming the first black person to earn a Ph.D. from an American university and only the sixth person ever in American at the time to earn a Ph.D. in physics. However, he was unable to find a teaching position at any college in America because of his race, so he moved to Philadelphia to teach at a high school for black students. With the help of Cope, Bouchet was able to establish a science program at the colored high school. He taught there for the next 26 years.

In 1902, Bouchet resigned to take a position at a vocational and teacher-training school in Cheyney, Pennsylvania. However, he was soon fired by the all-white board of directors. He moved around the nation teaching at various schools. In 1903, he taught at Sumner High School in St. Louis, the first black high school west of the Mississippi River. His last assignment was as the principal of Lincoln High School in Gallipolis, Ohio.

Bouchet was a great believer in education and strived to help young black Americans reach that goal in science. The American Physical Society created the "Edward A. Bouchet Award" to honor the nation's best physicists. His contributions to education in the face of segregation makes him a great American.

Saint Elmo Brady was born in 1884 in Louisville, Kentucky. Brady excelled in high school and graduated with honors. He attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee and became a student of Thomas W. Talley, a pioneering African-American teacher of science. Brady earned his bachelor’s degree in 1908 and began teaching at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. There, he was mentored by Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver.

In 1912, he began his graduate studies at the University of Illinois in chemistry, earning his master’s degree by 1914. Brady did research on the characterization of organic acids. He was able to get three abstracts published in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal “Science.” By 1916, Brady became the first African-American in history to earn his doctorate in chemistry. He also became the first African-American admitted into Phi Lambda Upsilon, the university’s chemical honor society. He was also one of the first African-Americans inducted into Sigma Xi, the science honorary society.

Brady returned to teach at Tuskegee for four years before being asked to serve as chair of the Department of Chemistry at Howard University in Washington, DC. While at Howard, he did collaborative work with the University of Illinois on infrared spectroscopy. He also worked with Dr. Samuel Massie, the first African-American faculty member of the United States Naval Academy, on research concerning the synthesis of a halogen compound. This was significant work because halogen compounds were being used as insecticides.

In 1927, his former professor, Dr. Talley, announced his retirement and Brady took the opportunity to become the chair of the chemistry department at Fisk University. Brady taught there for 25 years and developed an undergraduate curriculum for chemistry. He founded the first-ever graduate chemistry program at an all-black college in the United States. Brady retired in 1952, but continued working in collaboration with several black universities. He died in 1966 in Washington, DC, but his legacy as a pioneering chemist lives on. Brady was truly a Great American.

George Washington Carver was born into slavery in Diamond, Missouri in 1864. His family was owned by Moses Carver, an immigrant from Germany. When just an infant, George, his sister and his mother were was kidnapped by Confederate night-raiders and sold in Kentucky. Moses was able to locate and recover George, but his sister and mother were never found. After the Civil War ended and slavery was abolished, George was raised by Moses and his wife Susan as their own child. They taught him to read and write. He started attending school ten miles away in Neosho, Missouri. He moved around and attended series of schools in Kansas before finally graduating from high school in Minneapolis, Kansas.

Carver was accepted into Highland College in Kansas, but when he arrived, he was rejected due to his race. After the rejection, he moved to western Kansas and homesteaded a claim of 17 acres where he grew corn, rice, fruit trees and garden produce. He also did odd jobs and worked as a ranch hand. In 1888, he borrowed $300 loan from a local bank for a college education. He began studying art and piano at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. An art teacher at the college recognized Carver's aptitude in botany and encouraged him to pursue a degree in that field. He transferred to Iowa State Agricultural College (today's Iowa State University) in Ames, Iowa. He became the first African-American student at the college and, upon graduation, became the first African-American teacher there. He was persuaded to continue his education and earned a Master's Degree a short time after. He studied plant pathology at the Iowa Experiment Station and became nationally recognized for his work.

In 1896, Carver was contacted by Booker T. Washington, the principal and president of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, and offered a position as the head of the Agriculture Department. He was the highest paid faculty member on campus because of his reputation and national prominence in biology.

Carver transformed the agricultural department of Tuskegee into a nationally renowned leader in research and training. His research included methods of crop rotation, the development of alternative cash crops, and innovations in the uses of plants. Carver pioneered a mobile classroom that travelled to farmers to instruct them on methodology and innovations. His classroom was known as a "Jesup Wagon" named after the New York financier who donated to the Tuskegee Institute.

Carver became internationally recognized for developing new uses of crops such as sweet potatoes, soybeans, pecans and peanuts. He invented hundreds of plant-based products such as paint, lubricants, plastics, dyes and a new type of gasoline. He delivered speeches throughout the country on the advantages of these innovations. He became the most famous African-American of his time. In 1916, he was made a member of the British Royal Society of Arts, a rare honor for an American. He developed a friendship with Mahatma Gandhi and they discussed agriculture and nutrition for India. He wrote a syndicated newspaper column on the importance of agricultural innovation. He even spoke at southern white colleges about his work.

He worked at the Tuskegee Institute for 47 years until his death. Carver's epitaph sums up his life: "He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world." Today, George Washington Carver is celebrated as a great American. His contributions have changed the world and helped billions. His home is the first national monument to an African-American. Carver is not only a great American, but one of the greatest scientists in world history.

Emmett Chappelle was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1925. He grew up on small farm outside of town. He was drafted into the Army in 1942 after he graduated from Phoenix Union Colored High School. While in the Army, he took several engineering courses before being reassigned to the 92nd Infantry Division, an all-black unit, stationed in Italy.

After World War II, he earned an Associate's Degree from Phoenix College and, with help from the G.I. Bill, received a B.S. in Biology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1950. He briefly taught at Meharry Medical College in Nashville before being accepted into the University of Washington on a scholarship. He received a Master's Degree in Biology in 1954. Chappelle initiated graduate studies at Stanford University. Soon after, he left Stanford and joined the Research Institute for Advanced Studies in Baltimore, Maryland.

His research in Baltimore helped him to discover that one-celled plants can convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. This discovery played a significant role in developing technology used to create safe oxygen supplies for astronauts. Chappelle also helped to develop a technique that used lasers to measure a plant's stress, health and productivity. This discovery increased the quantity and quality of food production. In 1966, he joined NASA at the Goddard Space Flight Center. His research focused on luminescence without heat based on his studies with fireflies. He worked on the Viking Spacecraft program to Mars. His work with Viking led to a system for detecting life on other planets. In his career, he received 14 patents and co-authored numerous publications and scientific papers.

Chappelle has been honored as one of the top 100 scientists and engineers of the 20th century. He has received an Exceptional Scientific Medal from NASA as well as being inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Throughout his life, he has mentored minority high school and college students. His scientific achievements have made a better world. Chappelle passed away in 2019. He was a great American.

Elbert Frank Cox was born in 1895 in Evansville, Indiana. He came from a highly religious family and his father was a school principal. While in high school, Cox showed and unusual aptitude toward mathematics and physics. After he graduated high school, he was sent to Indiana University.

After earning his baccalaureate degree in mathematics from Indiana, he served in the US Army as a staff sergeant during World War I. After being discharged from military service, Cox became a math teacher at a high school in Henderson, Kentucky. In 1920, he joined the faculty of Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina. After teaching there for two years, he received a scholarship to attend Cornell University. In 1925, he became the first-ever African-American to earn his doctoral in pure mathematics, with his dissertation in the area of polynomial solutions of difference equations.

In the fall of 1925, he became the head of mathematics and physics at West Virginia State College. Soon after, he married a local school teacher and had three children. In 1929, he was invited to teach at Howard University. He taught there for the next 20 years before becoming the chair of the Department of Mathematics for the university. During his time at Howard, he continued research into abstract mathematics and helped craft the university’s grading system. He remained at Howard until 1966.

Cox specialized in interpolation theory, differential equations, and difference equations. He gained membership in various educational societies such as Beta Kappa Chi, Pi Mu Epsilon, and Sigma Pi Sigma. He was an active member of the American Mathematical Society, the American Physics Institute and the American Physical Society. He passed away in 1969, but he will be remembered as a trailblazer for African-Americans in the field of mathematics. His academic contributions made Dr. Cox a Great American.

Marie Maynard Daly was born and raised in the Corona neighborhood of Queens, New York in 1921. Growing up, Daly was an avid reader and was fascinated in biology. One particular book that inspired her to pursue a career in science was Paul de Kruif's book "The Microbe Hunters." She was also inspired by her father who was interested in science. Her father had attended Cornell University with the intention of becoming a chemist, but was unable to complete his education due to a lack of funds.

Daly decided to pick up where her father left off. After graduating from an all-girls high school in New York, she enrolled in Queens College in Flushing, NY. She lived at home in order to save money and was able to graduate magna cum laude in 1942 with a degree in chemistry. After earning her degree, she was offered a fellowship to pursue graduate studies at New York University while working as a laboratory assistant at Queens College. She finished her master's degree in just one year.

Daly started tutoring chemistry students at Queens College for a year in order to save money. Then, she enrolled in the doctoral program at Columbia University in New York City. She did important research at the university and produced a dissertation entitled, "A Study of the Products Formed by the Action of Pancreatic Amylase on Corn Starch." With this, she earned her doctoral degree in 1947 after only three years in the program, becoming the first African-American woman to obtain a Ph.D. in chemistry in the United States.

After Columbia University, Daly taught for two years at Howard University in Washington, DC. She received a grant from the American Cancer Society to do postdoctoral research at the Rockefeller Institute in New York. During this time, she researched the composition and metabolism of cell nucleus components as well as other areas of biochemistry. She also began teaching at Columbia University. In 1955, she worked closely with Dr. Quentin B. Deming on the causes of heart attacks. Their work in this area was groundbreaking and as a result, she became a professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University in 1960 where she taught for the next 26 years.

Daly worked tirelessly to develop programs to increase enrollment of minority students in medical schools and graduate science programs. She was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and was made a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1988, she established a scholarship fund for African-American science students at Queens College. Her work in the biochemistry field and her devotion to education made her a great American.

Mark Dean was born in Jefferson City, Tennessee in 1957. As a child, he excelled in math and took advanced mathematics in high school. He even built his own computer, radio and amplifier. He was one of the few African-American students in his high school. He attended the University of Tennessee and graduated there in 1979 at the top of his class.

Dean began working for IBM in 1980. There, he would obtain three of the original nine patents that all personal computers are based upon. He helped develop the new Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) systems bus. It allowed other devices such as printers, disk drives and monitors to be plugged directly into computers. He helped develop color PC monitors. In 1998, his IBM team in Austin, Texas created the first gigahertz chip which would vastly increase the power of personal computers. In all, he jointly holds more than 20 patents.

Despite working for IBM, he continued his education to advance himself. He received a Master's Degree of Electrical Engineering from Florida Atlantic University in 1982. He received his Ph.D. in the same field from Stanford University in 1992. In 1996, he was named an IBM fellow, the first African-American ever to receive this honor. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. In 2001, he was made a member of the National Academy of Engineers.

The story of Dr. Mark Dean is still developing. His work in computer engineering has revolutionized the personal computer and the way we live. His accomplishments have laid the groundwork for other advances in computer engineering and development which we all enjoy today. His story is one of a great American.

Evan Forde was born in Miami, Florida in 1952. As a child, be became fascinated with the television show, "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau." He had several offers to go to college on an athletic scholarship, but turned them down to take an academic scholarship. He attended Columbia University in New York and received his B.S. in geology and his M.S. in marine geology and geophysics. After college, he became an oceanographer for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) in Miami.

Forde became the first African-American to participate in research dives in a submersible. While working in Miami, he helped design detailed maps of the Atlantic Ocean. He also began research on hurricanes in the hope to better forecast their movements. His studies have shown the effects of African dust storms on the formation of hurricanes in the Atlantic.

Besides his research, Forde designed courses to teach oceanography to inner-city middle and high school students. He has traveled and spoken to thousands of students across the country about oceanography. He has published several magazine articles and textbooks as well as designed three museum exhibits.

Forde is still very active today. He is very involved in his local community and has received several awards throughout his career, including a Congressional Commendation in 2008. His work is far from over and he has proven to be a great American.

Imes was born in Memphis, Tennessee. Both of his parents were college educated. He attended Fisk University in Nashville and graduated with a degree in science in 1903. In 1918, he became only the second African-American to earn a Ph.D. in Physics at the University of Michigan. In 1919, he married renowned writer Nella Larsen of the Harlem Renaissance. They both lived in Harlem and were a part of the intellectual society of the area.

In 1919, Imes published "Measurements on the Near-Infrared Absorption of Some Diatomic Gases.". His further research in spectrum analysis of several diatomic molecules led him to becoming one the great American physicists of the early 20th Century. He procured patents on four instruments used to measure magnetic and electrical properties in molecules. He eventually became the chair of the physics department at Fisk University in 1939 until his death in 1941.

Imes was a great American who overcame the prejudices of the time to become one of the great thinkers of the 20th Century as well as an instrumental part of the Harlem Renaissance. His studies in infrared spectroscopy made him internationally recognized as a leading researcher in the area of physics.

Shirley Ann Jackson was born in Washington, DC in 1946. At an early age, she developed a interest in science. She graduated valedictorian from Theodore Roosevelt High School and became one of the first African-American students accepted into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She was the only African-American studying theoretical physics. She received her B.S. in 1968 and her Ph.D. in 1974.

After her time at MIT, she became a research associate in theoretical physics at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory from 1973 to 1974 in Illinois. She was also a visiting Science Associate at the European Organization for Nuclear Research from 1974 to 1975. Throughout the 1970s, she did work and research at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, the Aspen Center for Physics, and the Bell Laboratories. Her work at Bell Laboratories helped in the development of the portable fax, touch tone telephone, solar cells, fiber optic cables, and the technology behind caller ID on telephones.

In 1976, she was appointed professor of physics at Rutgers University in New Jersey. She taught there until 1991. In 1995, she was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as chairwoman. In 1999, she became the first black president of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.

Dr. Jackson serves on the Board of the New York Stock Exchange as well as over a dozen corporations and institutions. She was inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame in 1998 and the Women in Technology International Foundation Hall of Fame in 2000. She has received numerous awards for her work and research in physics. She continues to be a great American.

Julian was born in Montgomery, Alabama in 1899. His father was a former slave. After high school, Julian attended DePauw University in Indiana where he was severely humiliated due to his race. Despite this, he graduated valedictorian. After DePauw, he became a chemistry instructor at Fisk University in Nashville. Soon after, he received a fellowship to attend Harvard University for his M.S. He moved on to become an instructor at Howard University and while there he received a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship to attend the University of Vienna where he earned his Ph.D. in 1931.

He returned to DePauw with his friend, Josef Piki, in order to teach and conduct research. During their time together at DePauw, they invented a technique to synthesize physostigmine, a plant alkaloid found in Calabar Bean extracts. Physostigmine causes the eye's pupil to contract. This reaction made it an effective medication when treating glaucoma.

In 1936, Julian became the director of research at Glidden Company's Soya Products Division in Chicago. Julian supervised the construction of the world's first facility for production of industrial-grade, isolated soy protein. There, he first created a fire fighting foam to help put out fires. He also worked on synthesizing progesterone, estrogen and testosterone from items isolated from soybean oil by a foam technique that he invented and patented. He also discovered an improved method of synthesizing cortisone for the treatment of arthritis. In all, he applied for 115 patents while at Glidden.

He moved his family to the village of Oak Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. They were the first black family in the village. His 1951, his house was attacked with dynamite. Many in the community were outraged by the attack and supported the Julian family.

Julian was admitted to the National Academy of Sciences in 1973 and had received numerous awards for his work as a chemist. He founded his own company, Julian Laboratories, in 1953 and became a successful entrepreneur. His work has transformed the United States medical and chemical industries by leaps and bounds in the 20th Century. He is one of America's great chemists.

Just was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He attended Kimball Union Academy, a boarding school in Meriden, New Hampshire. After graduating in 1903, he enrolled at Dartmouth College and graduated magna cum laude as an esteemed Rufus Choate scholar. He was also selected Phi Beta Kappa, a rare honor for an African-American. He then began teaching at Howard University and soon became the chair of the Department of Zoology. He also became one of the founders of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.

Just made annual trips to the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. His studies there led to a doctoral degree at the University of Chicago in 1916. His area of expertise involved the study of fertilization of marine invertebrates. In 1929, Just took his research to Naples, Italy to study sea urchins. In 1930, he travelled to Berlin at the invitation of the famous embryologist Max Hartmann. He travelled to Paris to write a second book entitled, "The Biology of the Cell Surface." When foreigners were evacuated from France due to the Nazi invasion, Just decided to stay and complete his work. Just was captured by the Germans and briefly imprisoned in a prisoner-of-war camp before being rescued and returned to the United States. Shortly after his return, Just died in 1941 of pancreatic cancer.

Over his lifetime, Just published over 70 papers about his research. His scholarly work has enhanced the field of biology. His work made him one of the foremost biological researchers in the world. His work and contributions to science made him a great American.

Walter McAfee was born in Ore City ,Texas in 1914. When he was still a baby, McAfee’s family moved to Marshall, Texas where his father was a minister. He graduated from high school with honors and attended Wiley College, a historically black college affiliated with his father’s church. He graduate magna cum laude in 1934 with a degree in mathematics and went on to graduate from Ohio State University in 1937 with a degree in physics. To support himself, he taught science at a local junior high school.

During World War II, McAfee was a member of the US Army Signal Corp Engineering Laboratories. There, he worked on the new technology of radar. After the war, he was a member of Project Diana. The team was the first to use radar astronomy. McAfee’s calculations concerning radar cross section and the doppler shift were paramount to the success of the project.

He took a leave of absence from the Army to earn his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1949 on a Rosenwald Fellowship. In 1958, Monmouth University award him an honorary DSc. He was an advisor to the US Army Electronics Research and Development Command. For the next 42 years, he worked for the US Government at Fort Monmouth in New Jersey. He became the director of a NATO study on surveillance and target acquisition. He also lectured at Monmouth University on nuclear physics and electronics.

Dr. McAfee became one of the leading scientists of the 20th century in the area on electronics, radar and physics. His contributions to astronomy, national defence and education made him a great American.

Russell was born in inner city of Nashville, Tennessee in 1948. Russell focused primarily on athletics in his youth, but became intrigued by electronics after attending a summer education program at Fisk University. After high school, Russell attended Tennessee State University and earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1972 with honors.

After college, Russell became the first African-American to be directly hired out of a traditionally black university to work for Bell Laboratories. While working there, he also earned his master’s degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1973. While at Bell, he became involved in the Cellular Radio division.

Russell was instrumental in developing a cellular phone system that was not just relegated to a car phone. His pioneering work led to the creation a truly personal cellular phone. This was done by completely digitizing speech which reduced the bandwidth used in certain modulation schemes and allowed for more people on the same spectrum.

Russell climbed through the ranks at Bell Laboratories to become the Director of the AT&T Cellular Telecommunications Laboratory as well as Vice President of Advanced Communications Technologies. Russell also started his own company called incNETWORKS. He is responsible for over 100 patents. He continues to work in the cellular field and is instrumental in creating the cell phone network that the world enjoys today. He is considered the Father of 2G Communications. Russell’s continued work has made him truly a great American.

Robert Robinson Taylor was born in 1868 in Wilmington, North Carolina. His parents were born into slavery, but freed in 1847. His father was the son of a white slave owner. As a young man, Taylor excelled in science and mathematics. After graduating from a school for blacks operated by a missionary association, he worked for his father in the building trade for two years. In 1888, Taylor became the first black student admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Taylor was one of a handful of black students attending MIT. He excelled at architectural history, calculus, applied mechanics, and trigonometry. He was twice recommended for the Loring Scholarship so that he could continue his education. In 1892, he was one of only 12 students recommended for a degree in architecture and became the first-ever black graduate of the institution.

After college, Taylor married and accepted a position to teach at the Tuskegee Institute. He was also named and architect by the institute and was charged with designing most of the buildings that were built before 1932. He left Tuskegee in 1899 to work for an architectural firm in Cleveland, Ohio for three years before returning to the institute. He continued to work at the institute until his retirement in 1935, reaching the position of second-in-command of Tuskegee next to Booker T. Washington.

Taylor’s work extended far beyond Tuskegee. He designed many of the buildings at Selma University, libraries at Wiley College in Texas, and libraries at Livingstone College in North Carolina. In 1929, he travelled to Liberia to create a program for industrial training. He served under the Hoover Administration on the Mississippi Valley Flood Relief COmmission. He was also the chairman of the Tuskegee chapter of the American Red Cross.

Taylor died in 1942 in the campus chapel at Tuskegee, which he designed himself. He is considered a pioneering architect and was honored on a US postal stamp. Taylor's contribution to education and architecture made him a Great American.

Neil deGrasse Tyson was born in New York City in 1958. His mother was a gerontologist for the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare. His father was a sociologist. At a young age, Tyson showed he was both an athlete and scholar. He had a deep interest in astronomy. When he attended the Bronx High School of Science in the 1970s, he became the captain of the wrestling team as well as the editor-in-chief of the “Physical Science Journal.” During this time, Tyson attended astronomy courses at the local Hayden Planetarium. At the age of 15, Tyson began giving lectures on astronomy at the planetarium. Tyson was invited to attend Cornell University by noted astronomer Carl Sagan, but instead chose to attend Harvard.

Tyson decided to major in physics while at Harvard. He also joined the wrestling team, lettering in his senior year. Tyson was a dynamic student, studying jazz and dance. After earning his degree in physics in 1980, he began graduate work at the University of Texas at Austin. There, he received his master’s degree in astronomy. Tyson became a lecturer at the University of Maryland in the late 1980s and earned his Master of Philosophy degree at Columbia University in 1989 for astrophysics. In 1991, he earned his PhD in astrophysics while receiving support for his research from NASA and ARCS. He travelled the world doing observations at various telescopes and working on data that led to the discovery of dark energy.

In 1994, Tyson joined the Hayden Planetarium staff at the Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City. The center is a part of the American Museum of Natural History. By 1996, he became the director of the planetarium, overseeing a $210 million reconstruction project. During this time, he became a contributor to Natural History Magazine. He also worked with The Great Courses program out of Virginia.

In the 2000s, President George W. Bush appointed Tyson to serve on the Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry and to serve on the President’s Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy. In 2004, he was awarded the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the highest civilian award by the agency. Tyson also began hosting television shows and documentaries on PBS.

Tyson continues to work in the areas of astronomy, astrophysics and education. He has been the president and chairman of the board of the Planetary Society. He hosted a radio talk show, appeared on YouTube series, and revived the Carl Sagan television show “Cosmos” in 2014. Tyson has become one of the most famous scientists in the world. His contributions to education and science are continuing to make Tyson a Great American.

Charles Henry Turner was born in Cincinnati, Ohio only two years after the Civil War. He was the valedictorian of his graduating class and was admitted into the University of Cincinnati. There, he earned his B.S. in Biology in 1891 and his M.S. in 1892. He then became the first African-American to earn a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1907 in zoology.

Turner was barred from a teaching position at the University of Chicago due to his race, despite the fact that he had published over 30 papers. One of these papers was the first by an African-American to be published in the journal "Science." He was also turned down by Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee Institute because the institute lacked the funds to pay for Turner and George Washington Carver. Therefore, over the next several years, Turner taught at various high schools until finally moving to Sumner High School in St. Louis, Missouri.

While at Sumner High School, Turner published an average of one article every year, more than many of his contemporaries at university. This was altogether remarkable considering the fact that the research done by Dr. Turner was completed in a high school that lacked the facilities, funding and trained research students that normal universities could afford. Most of his papers that were published concerned invertebrates. Turner was the first person to prove that insects can hear and distinguish pitch. He was the first to prove that honey bees can see color and that cockroaches have the ability to learn through trial and error.

Dr. Turner's achievement in biology and zoology revolutionized the field in the 20th Century, despite the fact that he was not given an opportunity to be in a university setting. His contributions to science made him one of America's greats.