18 Mae Carol Jemison

Mae Carol Jemison

Time period:

October 17, 1956 – Present

Subject:

Physician, Engineer, Astronaut

Biography:

Jemison was born in Alabama in 1956. At a young age her family relocated to Chicago, Illinois. She graduated from high school in 1972 and attended Stanford University on a National Achievement Scholarship. She graduated from Stanford with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and a bachelor of arts in African American studies. She then attended Cornell University where she received her MD in 1981. She worked as a general practitioner before joining the peace corps in 1983. Upon her return to the US in 1985, she enrolled in engineering courses at UCLA while working as a general practitioner at GIGNA Health Plans in California. In 1986 she applied to the NASA space program. She was admitted to the program and in 1988 became the first black female mission specialist. On september 12, 1992, she embarked on her first mission, an eight-day voyage on the space shuttle Endeavor, making her the first black woman to travel in space. After leaving NASA in 1993, she taught at Dartmouth College and eventually founded her own company the Jemison Group Inc.

Summary of their contributions:

Jemison was the first black woman to become a NASA astronaut. In addition to her work with NASA, she was an accomplished medical doctor and engineer. Mae Carol Jemison challenged the stereotype of NASA being made up of solely white men. Her story serves as an example of a minority woman who was able to overcome racism and prejudice to become the first black woman to travel to space.

Integration with the BC Secondary Science Curriculum:

Jemison’s life and work spanned several fields in science including engineering, medicine, and physics.An example of incorporating her into science curriculum could be in the Physics 12 curriculum. Using the formulas for circular motion, students can calculate the centripetal acceleration of her 8 day trip on which she orbited the earth 127 times.

References:

Hine, D. C. (2008). Black Women in America (2nd ed.). Oxford Univ. Press.

Smith, Y. (2019, February 26). Mae Jemison, first African American woman in Space. NASA. http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/mae-jemison-first-african-american-woman-in-space.