Black Women’s Impact on STEM Innovations
In the dynamic world of Science and Technology, Black women have emerged as the trailblazers, challenging stereotypes and reshaping the landscape of discovery, calculations, and technological advancements. One such pioneer was Katherine Johnson (1918-2020), a mathematician at NASA who played a crucial role in calculating the trajectories for numerous National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), modern-day NASA, missions, including Neil Armstrong’s historic mission to the moon on Apollo 11.
During an interview with NASA in 2011, Katherine Johnson remarked, “We will always have STEM with us. Some things will drop out of the public eye and will go away, but there will always be science, engineering, and technology. And there will always, always be mathematics.”
Dr. Mae Jemison, NASA astronaut, first black woman to travel to space. Image sourced from National Space and Air Museum
In addition to Johnson, there are other notable figures like Dr. Mae Jemison (1956-present), the first Black Woman to travel to space, and Angella D. Ferguson (1925-present), a pediatrician renowned for her groundbreaking research on Sickle Cell disease. Ferguson’s blood test, developed for diagnosing sickle cell in infants, has become a standard test in most states, as highlighted by the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, Inc.
Other trailblazing women of the past include Alice Ball (1892-1916), a chemist who developed an “injectable oil extract that was the most effective treatment for leprosy until the 1940s,” as noted by Scienticwomen.net.
Pediatrician, Angella D. Ferguson. Image sourced from Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, Inc.
Today, Black Women continue to propel innovation across STEM fields, etching a permanent mark on scientific and technological progress. One such example is Clare Luckey, an engineer on the Mars Architecture Team, whose work involves helping to develop a vision for the initial segment of Mars exploration missions. Additionally, there’s Dr. Kizzmekia S. Corbett, lead for the Coronavirus Vaccines & Immunopathogenesis Team at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Vaccine Research Center (VRC). Her work focuses on developing novel coronavirus vaccines, including mRNA-1273, the leading candidate vaccine against the virus that causes COVID-19, as highlighted by the American Society of Microbiology.
Dr. Kizzmekia S. Corbett Image sourced from the American Society of Microbiology
In the constantly changing realm of science and technology, Black women continue to shine through their revolutionary contributions and leave an imprint across STEM fields. From Katherine Johnson’s pioneering calculations at NASA to Dr. Kizzmekia S. Corbett’s groundbreaking work on COVID-19 vaccines. For generations to come, these stories will serve as a reminder that there are no limitations to what women, especially black women, can achieve.
“I get asked a lot about legacy, and I think that the most that I can ask for is that girls or people of color look at me and they see that they have endless possibilities for becoming a scientist, for doing things that generally people don’t do in a lifetime, like developing and inventing a vaccine,” Corbett said in an interview with HealthyWomen.org.
