African Americans in Physics and Allied Sciences
Photos of the Month — February 2015
In honor of Black History month, we are celebrating the careers and contributions of African Americans in physics and allied sciences. Our collection includes such historical notables as Robert Bragg and Herman Branson, as well as contemporaries like Ronald Mallett, James Gates, Shirley Jackson, Ronald Mickens, and Cynthia McIntyre. The careers of Black physicists/allied scientists in our collection span government science, industrial physics and academia. Their accomplishments are recognized by the National Medal of Science, induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and many other honors. Please enjoy this featured selection from our historical photos collection of these talented individuals. To see more images like the ones we’ve selected, type the name of the physicist into the search engine.
Ronald McNair was a physicist and NASA astronaut. McNair died during the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-51-L. Credit: NASA, courtesy AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Ronald E. Mickens Collection.
Ronald Mallett, Professor of Physics, University of Connecticut, sits at his desk reading. Credit: AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, gift of Dr. Ronald Mallett.
Mother and Father, Dorothy and Boyd Mallett, with Ronald Mallet (left) and his baby brother, Jason visiting the Bronx Park. 1948. Credit: AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, gift of Dr. Ronald Mallett.
Co-founder of the organization National Conference of Black Physics Students. Cynthia McIntyre is a theoretical physicist whose work has concentrated in the area of condensed matter. Her research focus is on the electronic and optical properties of semiconductor heterostructures. Her current research studies electron-phonon interactions in low dimensional semiconductors. Credit: George Mason University, Photograph by Neil Adams, courtesy AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Ronald E. Mickens Collection.
Portrait of Robert Bragg. Credit: AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Ronald E. Mickens Collection.
Herman Branson in a laboratory with scientific equipment. Credit: AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Physics Today Collection.