Here in the United States, February is designated as Black History Month. During this month, many people and organizations make a point of celebrating the oft-times overlooked contributions of Black Americans to a variety of fields, including the sciences. No list we could create will ever be comprehensive enough to cover all of the amazing people whose names we should know alongside Einstein and Hawking and Sagan, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.

I also acknowledge that, as a white woman, my position in this country comes with a lot of privilege. I am going to use that position to help make the following names and accomplishments better known.

Benjamin Banneker (November 9, 1731 – October 19, 1806) was a free Black American mathematician, author, surveyor, landowner, and farmer considered to be the first Black astronomer in the United States. He worked as an assistant surveyor with Andrew Ellicott, mapping the lands and creating the boundaries for the new federal capital in Washington, D.C.

Arthur B.C. Walker, Jr. (August 24, 1936 – April 29, 2001) was an African American physicist, who studied the Sun’s atmosphere in both ultraviolet and X-rays. He later developed and tested the X-ray mirror technology that is now used in the SOHO spacecraft. In 1986, he chaired the committee that investigated the Challenger space shuttle disaster.

George Carruthers (October 1, 1939-December 26, 2020) was an inventor, physicist, engineer, and space scientist. He perfected an ultraviolet camera/spectrograph for NASA to use when it launched Apollo 16.

Claudia Alexander (May 30, 1959-July 11, 2015) was a research scientist who specialized in geophysics and planetary science. She worked for the U.S. Geological Survey and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on missions that included Galileo and Rosetta.

Beth A. Brown (July 15, 1969 – October 5, 2008) was a NASA astrophysicist who specialized in the study of black holes and the emission of x-ray radiation from galaxies. In her work at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, she championed science communications and higher education.

Again, these are but a few people we think you should know. We will include links to full biographies as well as more lists of amazing Black Americans in our show notes.

As a final note, earlier today, NASA renamed the NASA Headquarters building in Washington, D.C., in honor of ‘Hidden Figure’ Mary W. Jackson. Jackson was the first African American female engineer at NASA and began her career with the agency in the segregated West Area Computing Unit of NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. She posthumously received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2019.

More Information

SETI Institute article

#BlackInAstro: Black Representation in Astro/Physics and the Impact of Discrimination (astrobites)

NASA Black History Month 

Black History Month 2021 Profiles (AAS)