Pioneering Women of Color in STEM
Dr. Gladys West is inducted into the Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame during a ceremony in her honor at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, Dec. 6, 2018.
From space travel to climate change, many of the huge scientific achievements of our age were made by women of color, women whose names and accomplishments have gone unnoticed for far too long. Black American mathematician Katherine Johnson and two other Black women scientists who were referred to as NASA’s human computers contributed to the success of the US crewed spaceflight in the sixties and were the main characters of the Oscar-nominated movie Hidden Figures. The first African woman recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize Dr. Wangari Maathai is regarded as one of the most impactful environmentalists and the first female professor in Kenya. Elizabeth Anionwu helped create the first nurse-led UK sickle-cell thalassemia counseling center in London that has now expanded to 30 centers in the UK and helped to reduce inherited blood disorders. Dr. Gladys West (pictured) created the Global Positioning System (GPS), which is critical to the modern world, from dating and ride sharing apps to supply chains, military defense, and studying the environment. Professor Francisca Nneka Okeke also made significant contributions to understanding climate change and earned the reputable L’Oreal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science.
