Elijah McCoy
Elijah McCoy (May 2, 1844 – October 10, 1929) was an inventor of Canadian but of African American descent. His creation of the lubricating cup changed the efficiency of steam engines in the 19th century. Born in 1844 in Colchester, Ontario, he was one of 11 siblings of runaway slave parents who fled from Kentucky […]
Annie Jean Easley
Annie Jean Easley (April 23, 1933 – June 25, 2011) was an African American computer scientist from Birmingham, Alabama. Considering the nursing and pharmacy profession, Easley moved to New Orleans where she attended Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA) for two years before moving back home. Eventually landing in Ohio, she found a job at the […]
Dr. Euphemia Lofton Haynes
Dr. Euphemia Lofton Haynes (September 11, 1890- July 25, 1980) was a mathematician, educator, and the first African-American woman to earn a PhD in Mathematics. Born and raised in Washington D.C, Haynes grew up in a well-educated and affluent family as the daughter of a dentist and schoolteacher. She obtained a BA (1914) in Mathematics […]
Frederick McKinley Jones
Frederick McKinley Jones (1893-1961) was born in Cincinnati on May 7, 1983, and was an African-american inventor responsible for revolutionizing portable refrigeration. Self-taught in mechanical and electrical engineering, he was known to assemble contraptions from early prototype snowmobiles to cars. After securing an engineering license, he served in WWI in an all African-American unit working […]
Dr. Luis von Ahn
Dr. Luis von Ahn is a Guatemalan entrepreneur and software developer and is currently serving as the CEO of the language learning company, Duolingo.
Ellen Lauri Ochoa, PhD
Dr. Ellen Ochoa was the first Hispanic woman to go in space and first Hispanic Director at the Johson Space Center.
Luis E. Miramontes, PhD
Dr. Luis Miramontes was born in Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico in 1925. As a child, he was raised by the women in his family, his mother and his aunts. One of his most notable influences was his aunt Maria Dolores Cardenas, who served in Pancho Villa’s army. She instilled a love of science in Luis and […]
Alberto Pedro Calderón, PhD
Dr. Alberto Pedro Calderón was born in Mendoza, Argentina, 9/14/1920, where, at a young age, he showed an immediate aptitude for the field of Mathematics. Pressured by his father, he graduated from the University of Bueno Aires with a BS (1947) in Civil Engineering. He began working at the state-owned oil company Yacimenotos Petroliferos Fiscalas […]
Luiz Walter Alvarez, PhD
Dr. Luiz Walter Alvarez was an inventor, American physicist, and professor who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1968 for the discovery of resonance particles. Alvarez was born in San Francisco on June 13, 1911. His grandfather and father were doctors. His father took a post at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, […]
Claudio Castillón Lévano, PhD
Dr. Claudio Castillón Lévano was born on December 15, 1954 in Trujillo, Peru and would go on to be the most diverse and prolific Hispanic inventor of our time. He earned his BS and MS in Telecommunications Engineering before earning his PhD in Electrical Engineering at the National University of Engineering in Lima, Peru. Through […]