Environmental scientist and biochemist Emmett W. Chappelle was born on October 24, 1925 in Phoenix, Arizona to Viola White Chappelle and Isom Chappelle. His family grew cotton and tended cows on a small farm at the edge of town. Chappelle was drafted into the U.S. Army, right after graduating from the Phoenix Union Colored High School in 1942. He...

Physicist Hattie Carwell was born on xx/xx/xxx in , . Carwell grew up in a nurturing black community in Ashland, Virginia, which encouraged her interest in science. After graduating from high school in 1966, she enrolled at Bennett College for Women. Carwell earned her B.S. degree in chemistry from Bennett College in 1971. She went on to earn her...

College president, nonprofit chief executive, and physicist George Campbell (1945 – ) is President of Cooper Union, one of the nation’s oldest institutions of higher learning. In 1977 Campbell earned a Ph.D. in theoretical physics and then worked for Bell Laboratories for twelve years. Later Dr. Campbell became president and CEO of the National Action Council for Minorities in...

Physicist Warren Wesley Buck, III was born on February 16, 1946 to Warren W. Buck, Jr. and Mildred G. Buck in Washington, D.C. He was raised in Washington, D.C. and graduated from Spingarn High School in 1963. After graduating from Morgan State University in 1968 with his B.S. degree in mathematics, Buck enrolled at the College of William and...

Physicist and physics professor Robert Bragg (1919 – ) was a leader in the techniques of x-ray diffraction and the study of carbon-based materials. He served as a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1969 to 1987. Link: http://www.idvl.org/sciencemakers/Bio24.html

Biological anthropologist and research director Michael L. Blakey was born on February 23, 1953 in Washington, D.C. Blakey received his B.A. degree in anthropology from Howard University in 1978. He continued his studies at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and earned his M.A. degree in 1980. Blakey travelled to England to do research on the biology of contemporary...

Electrical engineer and physicist Clayton W. Bates (1932 – ) worked for several engineering and scientific companies including Varian Associates, AVCO, Sylvania Electric Products, the Ford Instrument Company, and RCA. His projects ranged from low-level light detection and x-ray image intensification to the design of the nuclear reactor controls of the first SEA WOLF, the second atomic powered submarine....

Astrophysicist and physics professor Gibor Basri (1951 – ) was one of the first astrophysicists to discover brown dwarfs, stars without sufficient mass to have a stable brightness and that cool to planetary temperatures, in 1995. In 2007, he was named the first vice chancellor for equity and inclusion at the University of California, Berkeley. Link: http://www.idvl.org/sciencemakers/Bio26.html

Atmospheric scientist Warren Morton Washington (1936 – ) developed one of the first atmospheric computer models of the earth’s climate. He was elected chairman of the National Science Board in 2002 and 2004. Link: http://www.idvl.org/sciencemakers/Bio9.html

Computer science and engineering professor Valerie E. Taylor was born on May 24, 1963. She attended Purdue University where she received her B.S. degree in computer and electrical engineering in 1985 and her M.S. degree in electrical engineering in 1986. She continued her education at the University of California at Berkeley where she received her Ph.D. degree in electrical...