History of science

Question

Who are some famous African American computer scientists?

Answer

Dear Estme, African American computer scientists helped develop the first PC, the 3D graphic processors that make movie special effects possible, and gigaherz microchips. They are working right now on making tablet computers, flexible display devices, and computers 1,000 times faster than those we have today. Mark Dean has been working at IBM since 1980. He holds three of the nine patents for the first PC (personal computer). All of the PCs we have today are based on that original design. Dr. Dean also led the team that developed the first gigaherz microchip, which could do a billion calculations per second. Now he is working on an inexpensive electronic tablet that can download electronic text, connect to the internet, act as a wireless phone and radio, and play DVDs. Dr. Marc Hannah cofounded a company called Silicon Graphics, which is the leading 3D computer graphics company in the world. Dr. Hannah is also Vice President and Chief Scientist of the company. Dr. Valerie Taylor grew up in Chicago. She is the head of the computer science department at Texas A&M University. In 1993, she won the National Science Foundation's Young Investigator Award. She is now developing a new kind of computer that will perform 1,000 times faster than the computers in use today. Dr. Adekunle O. Adeyeye was born in Nigeria, went to graduate school in England, and now works in Singapore. He is researching the way electrons spin, which may be harnessed to make tiny computers with lots of memory. Dr. Akintunde Akinwande is a professor at MIT. He is working on developing flexible computer screens that you can fold up and put in your pocket. Clarence (Skip) Ellis was the first African American to receive a PhD degree in computer science, in 1969 from the University of Illinois. He has published many books, worked in many research laboratories, and contributed to many of the most important organizations in computer science. You can read about the lives of these and many other computer scientists on the web site "Computer Scientists of the African Diaspora" http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/computer-science/cs-peeps.html). The site links to a short biography of each person. Sometimes there is information about their childhood, schools, and what they were like before they were famous. A few of the biographies link to the person's personal web page, where you can read more about them. The web site also lists some books and articles about African American computer scientists and mathematicians. I hope you enjoy getting acquainted with these computer scientists. - Shelly INSTAAR Information Center