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Black Inventors
1. Granville T. Woods
2. Lewis Latimer
3. George Washington Carver
4. Philip Emeagwali
5. Garrett A. Morgan
6. Benjamin Banneker
7. Percy Julian
8. Elijah McCoy
9. Nobert Rillieux
10. Jan Earst Matzeliger
11. Ernest Everett Just
12. Ben Carson
13. Charles Drew
14. Frederick Jones
15. Louis Temple
16. Daniel Hale Williams
17. Samuel Kountz
18. Ralph Gardner
19. O.S. "Ozzie" Williams
20. George Carruthers
21. William Curtis
22. Otis Boykin
23. Shelby Davidson
24. Louis Wright
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They Changed Our World
"The
Greatest Electrician in the World"
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- In 1887 the national newspaper, American
Catholic Tribune, declared Woods, "The greatest electrician
in the world."1
-In
1886 The Cincinnati Sun--a white newspaper--predicted that Woods would
become "Edison's successor," as America's greatest inventor.2
- He developed an
improved system of overhead
electrical wires for trains.
The electrical wire system replaced the expensive, inefficient,
and highly pollutant steam-driven engines in many areas.3
-He
invented an electric rail system
that provided electricity to power
a railroad. He made
numerous improvements to it throughout his career. The process is widely used in
subways.4
-He invented an improved
telephone transmitter, which allowed longer distant calls and a clearer
reception.5
-He
invented an electric telegraph system that allowed messages to be sent
to and from moving trains. This devise revolutionized train safety.6
-The
devise also allowed multiple messages to be sent over the same line7 without
interference. One newspaper exclaimed. "200 operators may use a
single wire at the same time."
-He
invented an electronically heated egg incubator, which could
handle 50,000 eggs at a time.8
-In
1896 he invented a device that controlled the electric current going
through the generator to the machine, which reduced energy consumption. 9
-He invented the
"telegraphy" which allowed regular people to send oral
messages over telegraphs, whereas before one had to be an experienced
telegraph operator and familiar with Morse Code in order to send
messages.10 Alexander Graham Bell’s
company purchased the invention.
-He invented an improved electric brake for
trains.11
-He was offered a consulting job by Edison, which he turned down because he wanted to
remain independent.
-Many serious illnesses--including small pox, kidney
disease, and liver disease--in the prime of his career critically curtailed
his success and shortened his life.
Furthermore, his electric rail drawings (perhaps his greatest invention)
were stolen and successfully marketed, which caused him to spend a lot of
time and money in court (the man who stole his drawings ended up in jail
and was disbarred). These
setbacks disallowed Woods from reaching the greatness of becoming “Edison’s Successor,” as some had
envisioned.
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He Helped
Bring Electric Light into our Homes
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-After
Edison received a patent for the first
"successful" electric light bulb hundreds of improvements were made
by many inventors within a decade.
Lewis Latimer invented a light bulb that burnt evenly
every time by a process called “manufacturing carbons.” Before that process the
filament often quickly broke or bent, would start on fire, or the light
bulb would shatter. His light
bulb cost only pennies to replace.12
-He crafted the blueprints
for Alexander Graham Bell's Telephone.13
-He became Edison's
law expert in court--protecting Edison
from patent infringements--saving him millions of dollars.14
-He
wrote the book, Incandescent Electric Lighting: A Practical
Description of the Edison System, which became known as the electrical
bible.15
-He
was the supervisor of North America's first electrical plants and
streetlights, which were installed in New York City and Philadelphia.16
-As
an employee of the United States Electric Lighting Company he made
improvements—perhaps many improvements—to the light bulb that
the company, not Latimer, received credit for. That was common practice.
-He
was an original member of the Edison Pioneers.17
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He
Saved the South
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-George Washington
Carver saved the South from an economic crises and possible famine18
by inventing more than three hundred uses for the peanut, over one
hundred uses from the sweet potato, around 75 uses from the pecan, and
many more from Georgia clay; The new products from those
soil-enriching plants allowed Carver to convince Southern farmers to
rotate their crops instead of relying entirely on cotton--which was
destroying soil and consequently plantations across the region.19
-Southern
farmers were soon making more money from their peanut crops than
cotton or tobacco.20
-Due to the enriching
qualities of the peanut, sweet potato, and pecan the South's cotton
and tobacco crops were the best they had ever seen.21
-In 1938 alone the peanut
had become a 200 million dollar industry.22
If Carver had not been around there is no telling what misery
Southerners--in a cotton reliant world--would
have suffered, especially during the Great Depression.
-Carver's
inventions allowed small-time farmers, white and black, the dignity and
opportunity to own their own farms for the first time. Because
cotton was only profitable when produced on a large-scale small farmers
were forced to sharecrop--give a certain amount of their production to a
rich landowner before selling their crops on the open market.
Sharecropping often amounted to de facto slavery for whites and blacks.
Carver liberated those people from that oppressive system.23
-Thomas Edison offered Carver $100,000 a year--around
one million dollars by today's standards--and unlimited laboratory
facilities to work with him. Henry Ford, a close personal friend
of Carver, made a similar offer. Carver declined because he felt teaching
black students at the Tuskegee Institute was more important.24
-Some
of the more widespread consumer goods Carver created from agriculture
included: synthetic rubber, soaps, dyes, paper, ink, paint, cream, buttermilk,
instant coffee, face powder, butter, shampoo, vinegar, wood stains,
flour, starch, tapioca, mucilage, insulating board, rugs, cordage, and
paving blocks for highways.25
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Philip Emeagwali (born in Nigeria)
"A
Father of the Internet"
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- He developed the world's
fastest computer of the time in 1989. The computation at 3.1 billion
calculations per second increasing the speed of a massively parallel
computer to as much as 1,000 times faster than a main frame computer and
1,000,000 times faster than a personal computer.26
-Problems
once thought unsolvable were able to be solved.
-His computer solved one of the United Stated 20 most difficult computing problems.
-His computer can aid in forecasting
the weather, predicting global
warming, and extracting oil more productively.
-In
1974 he formulated a theoretical HyperBall International
Network--as he called it--connecting 64,000 computers to forecast
the weather. This led CNN to dub him, "A Father of the Internet,"27
because it was his formula that "led to computer scientists
comprehending the capabilities of supercomputers and the practical
applications of creating a system that allowed multiple computers to
communicate."28
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Gas Mask and the
Traffic Signal
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-He received
a patent for a Gas Mask.29
-He received
a patent for a Traffic Signal.30
-He became a national
hero when he and his brother used their gas masks to save men who
were trapped under a tunnel 250 ft below Lake Erie.
Following their heroism business boomed for Morgan: police departments,
fire departments, and mining companies all wanted his gas mask.31
-Many historians believe his gas mask was the
primary model for those used during WWI. The gas mask was particularly
useful during WWI because
troops often encountered poisoned gas.32
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Benjamin Banneker
1731-1806
Perhaps
Colonial America's
Greatest and Most Famous Mathematician
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-Appointed by
President George Washington, he was one of three men who designed Washington
D.C. and the White House.
-He
has gained a somewhat legendary status for remembering the blueprints
of Washington D.C. and the White House from memory after the team
leader left in anger and took all the designs back with him to France;
the distressed workers thought it would take two years to redo the
designs, but it took Banneker only two days to recall the designs from
memory.33
-He gained world
recognition among scientists and mathematicians when he correctly
predicted the time of a solar eclipse, which contradicted two of
the most prominent mathematicians of the time, Leadbetter
and Ferguson.34
-He
wrote a famous almanac from 1792-1802 that became an important household
staple in early America.35
-His almanac
included weather forecasts for the year, time of eclipses,
hours of sunrise and sunset, phases of the moon, lists of medications
and remedies to prevent and cure diseases, a tide table for Chesapeake
Bay, holidays, an overview of the American government, and so
on. His almanac was especially helpful for farmers.36
-He
gained some national fame when, as only a teenager, he built one of America's
first wooden clocks. He built the clock, which kept perfect time
for 40 years, after only being given a pocket watch and some remedial
textbooks on science. Incredibly his clock consisted entirely of wood.37
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He has
Ended the Suffering of Many and Saved the Lives of Thousands
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-He discovered a way
to create large amounts of synthetic cortisone, which is used to alleviate
arthritis pain. Before his discovery only the very wealthy could
afford cortisone for arthritis; now synthetic cortisone is so cheap
and widespread almost anyone can afford it.38
-He
discovered how to make synthetic physostigmine,
which is used to treat glaucoma sufferers.39
-His discoveries of
substitutes for male and female hormones are credited with saving the
lives of thousands of unborn children and cancer victims.40
-He
invented aero-foam, which is used to put out gasoline and oil
fires--it proved especially useful during WWII.41
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“The
Real McCoy" has Helped Save Industries
Countless Dollars and Hours
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-He
improved a device that allowed machines to be lubricated while still
in operation; before his invention lubricating machinery was a
wasteful and time consuming process because production had to be
completely stopped.42
-He improved the automatic
lubricating device for steam engines, automobiles, trains, and ships.44
-He
received a patent for the lawn sprinkler and ironing table.45
-The American
expression, "The Real McCoy," was used by customers and
inspectors asking if machinery had McCoy's lubricating system. Today,
"The Real McCoy," is an American idiom meaning perfection.46
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Nobert Rillieux 1806-1894
He
Made America
a Sugar Giant
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-In
1843 he invented a vacuum pan that made evaporated sugar into
crystallized granules.47
-Prior
to his invention sugar making was a slow, expensive, and painful
process48
where people were regularly scalded by boiling pots of water.
-His invention made
America a sugar giant,
dominating a market that once belonged to Brazil
and Haiti.49
-Before Rillieux's invention sugar was a luxury that could
be afforded only on very special occasions.50
-His
process is still used today to make soap, gelatin, glue,
and condensed milk.51
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Jan Earnst Matzeliger
1852-1889
He Revolutionized the Shoe Industry
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-He invented a machine
that automatically stitched shoe leather to the sole of the shoe.52
-His
machine could produce up to 700 shoes a day whereas an expert hand
laser could only produce 50.53
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Ernest
Everett Just 1883-1941
He Changed the Way We Thought About Cells
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-Going
against conventional wisdom he shattered long-held beliefs about the
structure and functions of cells by proving that ectoplasm--which
had been largely ignored--was vital to cell and egg development.54
-His
findings changed the way scientists thought about evolution, the difference
between plants and animals, the difference
between non-living and living things, ways to determine sex in
advance, the functions of the liver, kidneys, pancreas, and
other vital organs. His findings also affected cancer research.55
-The
importance he placed on ectoplasm was too extreme, just as the
scientists of his day placed too much importance on the nucleus.
Nevertheless his findings were groundbreaking and critical.
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Arguably
the Best and Most Famous Brain Surgeon in the World
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-He
completed the first successful separation of vertically conjoined
twins in 1997.56
-He
became world-renowned for separating West German conjoined twins
in 1987.57
-"He
has refined the techniques for hemispherectomy,
a radical brain surgery to stop intractable seizures."58
-He
developed a craniofacial program to help children who need combined
neurosurgical and plastic surgical reconstruction.59
-He
is the director of pediatric neurosurgery at The Johns Hopkins
Medical Institution.60
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He
Has Saved Countless Lives
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-He
discovered that pure plasma could be used for blood transfusions;
this meant that a patient did not have to have the same blood type
as the donor.61
-He
discovered a way to separate plasma from red blood cells, which
made plasma transfusions possible.62
-He
discovered a way to store blood for a week, whereas before it
could only be stored for one or two days. His plasma discovery allowed
blood to be stored for much longer, which made blood banks
possible.
-He
established and was director of the first Red Cross
Blood Bank.63
-He
organized the world's first blood bank project, which was for British
soldiers in WWII.64
-Before
Drew's discoveries there was a frantic search for a blood donor whenever
anyone needed a blood transfusion for survival--survival was of course
slim, especially in war. Following his discoveries doctors and
medics merely had to tap into stored blood to save a patient's life.
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He
Revolutionized the Food Industry
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-He
improved the mobile refrigeration system used in trucks, ships,
and railway cars.65
-This
reduced the problem of food spoilage during transportation.
-His
invention also allowed blood and medicine to be transported, which
is especially useful during wars.66
-He
was a consultant to the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S.
Bureau of Standards.67
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He
Revolutionized the Whaling Industry
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-He
invented a harpoon that locked into a whale's skin.68
-This
invention more than doubled the yearly catch.69
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-He
performed the world's first heart surgery; the man lived 40 more
years.70
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Samuel Kountz 1930-1981
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-Performed
the first successful kidney transplant between people other than
identical twins.71
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-His
work led to the development of hard plastics.72
-Worked
on the Manhattan Project--as a 21-year-old prodigy--which
developed the atom bomb.73
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-A NASA scientist who
invented the first radar that could locate downed planes.74
-He
was the chief developer of the Apollo lunar lander
engines.75
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George Carruthers 1940-
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-A NASA scientist who
invented the lunar surface ultraviolet cameras and spectrograph,
which became the moon's first observatory. This device takes
photographic images of the Earth's upper atmosphere.76
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-Invented
such Cold War weapons as the Black Cat weapons system, the MG-3
fire control system, the 300-A weapon radar system, and the Airborne
Interceptor Data Link.77
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-Invented the control
unit for the cardiac pacemaker.78
-Invented
a resistor used in missiles, radios, TVs, computers, spaceships,
chemical air filters, and burglarproof cash registers.79
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-Invented a mechanical
tabulator, which was a forerunner to the calculator.80
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-Invented
the neck brace, which is still used today.81
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1Klein, Aaron. The Hidden Contributors:
Black Scientists and Inventors in America. Doubleday and
Company (Garden City, New York, 1971), 72
2Ibid, 74
3Brodie, James Micheal.
Created Equal: The Lives and Ideas of Black American Innovators.
William Morrow and Company (New York, New York, 1993), 61
4Klein, 68
5Brodie, 59
6Ibid, 60
7Klein, 73
8Brodie, 60
9Ibid
10Haber, 44
11Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem. Black
Profiles in Courage: A Legacy of African-American Achievement.
William Morrow and Company (New York, New York, 1996), 191
12Abdul-Jabbar, 187
13Abdul-Jabbar, 184
14Jabbar, 191
15Jabbar, 192
16Jabbar, 189
17Jabbar,
195
18Haber, 75
19Brodie, 75
20Haber,
Louis. Black
Pioneers of Science and Invention. Harcourt, Brace, and World (New York, New York, 1970),
79
21Haber, 78
22Brodie, 82
23Brodie, 81
24Haber, 83
25Haber, 79
26Top Blacks: Positive Profiles of
People of Color.
http://www.topblacks.com/technology/philip-emeagwali%20.asp
27CNN. "Innovators who break barriers:
African-American feats in science, technology are helping to
revolutionize everyday lives." February 9, 2001
http://fyi.cnn.com/fyi/interactive/specials/bhm/story/black.innovators.html#1
28Top Blacks: Positive Profiles of
People of Color. http://www.topblacks.com/technology/philip-emeagwali%20.asp
29Brodie, 95
30Brodie, 113
31Brodie, 96
32Brodie, 113
33about.com. "Inventors."
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blbanneker.htm
34Haber, 5
35Ibid
36Ibid
37Haber, 3
38Brodie,
153
39Brodie,
157
40Haber, 96
41Haber, 94
42Brodie, 61
43Haber, 40
44Brodie, 63
45Ibid
46Haber, 40
47Brodie, 43
48Haber, 15
49Brodie, 44
50Brodie, 43
51Brodie, 46
52Brodie, 48
53Haber, 30
54Brodie, 128
55Haber, 117
56Top Blacks: Positive Profiles of
People of Color. http://www.topblacks.com/medicine/ben-carson.htm
57Ibid.
http://www.topblacks.com/medicine/ben-carson.htm
58Ibid.
http://www.topblacks.com/medicine/ben-carson.htm
59Ibid.
http://www.topblacks.com/medicine/ben-carson.htm
60Ibid.
http://www.topblacks.com/medicine/ben-carson.htm
61Haber, 158
62Brodie, 139
63Brodie, 138
64Ibid
65Brodie, 149
66Brodie, 150
67Brodie, 150
68Brodie, 53
69Ibid
70Haber, 123
71Brodie, 162
72Brodie, 164
73Brodie, 164
74Brodie, 174
75Ibid
76Brodie, 173
77Brodie, 173
78Brodie, 174
79Ibid
80Brodie, 178
81Brodie, 148
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