Shirley Ann Jackson

Contribution: First African American woman to lead a major research university

Age: 76

Mini Bio:

Physicist Shirley Ann Jackson is the first African American woman to earn her Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), one of the world’s top universities in science and engineering. She was also the first black woman president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the first woman and African American to chair the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Shirley is now president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, our country’s oldest technological research university. She encourages students to break into science, technology, engineering, and math.

• Shirley’s interest in science began when she was a little girl. She loved to study the bumblebees in her backyard.
• Shirley and her sister, Gloria, also built soapbox racing cars when they were kids.
• Her scientific discoveries helped lead to the invention of the touchtone telephone, as well as caller ID and call waiting.

Further Reading:

• Wikipedia
• Black Inventor
• African American Registry
• Forbes