IIt only takes a tiny bit of research to discover that like other races, blacks have also participated in the adventure of the human spirit. Scientists or inventors, they do not appear anywhere in the world book of invention listing those who have allowed the progress of humanity, laments Yves Antoine, a Haitian who wrote a book on the subject.
Like the brave “Senegalese skirmishers”, these black scientists are carefully “forgotten” by the world although their inventions are used daily.
Indeed, how many of the millions of motorists who stop every day at a red light across the world know that this essential tool for urban traffic management was invented by a black man? It was in 1923 however that the self-taught African-American, born in 1875 in Tennessee, Garrett Augustus Morgan has developed the traffic lights. For 40.000 dollars at the time, he sold his invention to the General Electric Company.
Very ingenious, the latter will also use his skills in Chemistry to invent the gas mask, whose patent was filed in 1914 in the United States. It will thus help save thousands of lives, especially during the First World War (1914-1918) where combat gas was used for the first time as a weapon of mass destruction.
Born in New Orleans in 1806, his unfortunate compatriot, Norbert Rilieux revolutionized the industrial manufacture of sugar. He is also the author of several works on steam engines.
Lewis H. Latimer, as for him, knew thanks to the carbon filament to bring the necessary improvements to the incandescent lamp (the electric bulb) invented in 1879 by Edison. These improvements have also enabled its industrial manufacture and large-scale use in everyday life.
Andrew J. Beard, another African-American, will develop the combustion engine while the imagination of John V. Smith gave birth to car brakes on April 23, 1872. On February 2, 1892, Carter William invented the metal frame of the car. Still in the field of transport, the 19 September 1893, Elbert R. Robinson will develop the electric trolley on rail and Gradville T. Woods the railway electrification system. The African American Mc Koy invented the engine lubrication system in operation.
Even if it is not a question of making an exhaustive census of the discoveries and innovations made by blacks, let us continue this overview by mentioning that John Stenard invented the refrigerator 14 July 1891. We can not forget Lee S. Burridge et Newman R. Mashman who invented the typewriter on April 7, 1885, the same year in which the European powers divided Africa in Berlin.
Granville T. Woods cited above invented the parabolic antenna on June 7, 1889. On October 11 of the same year, he developed telephone systems and devices. Two years later, on January 1, 1891, he invented the electric switch.
The 23 1895 April, Clatonia Joaquim Dorticus also made his modest contribution to the human work by inventing the photographic developer.
Print a newspaper or a book, a banal gesture for us. But many people are unaware that the press press was invented on September 17 1878 by WA Lavalette.
In the military field, the Brazilian Andreas Rebouças (1838-1898) developed the torpedo, the anti-ship weapon well known by armies around the world, during the war against Paraguay in 1864.
Victims of injustice
In the United States, the inventiveness of blacks has never been denied. Seeing the prolixity of their creativity, an Attorney General of the United States, Jeremiah S. Black will pass a law in 1858 against the filing of patents for inventions by slaves. At that time, a United States patent was a contract between the United States government and the inventor. The slave is not considered as an American citizen, so he could not according to the law passed by Mr. Black sign a contract with the American government but give up his invention to his master. This therefore suggests that a number of inventions made by African Americans were often recognized by their slave masters.
Fortunately, you can't hide the sun with your hands. In the nuclear field, other black Americans have distinguished themselves. This is the case of seven of those who participated between 1942 and 1945 in the famous Manhattan Project, which mobilized the most brilliant scientific minds of the time and whose research culminated in the atomic bomb. These seven black physicists and engineers are Lloyd Albert Quaterman, Ralph gardner, Edward A. Russel, Moddie Taylor, Harold Delaney, Benjamin Scott, J. Ernest Wilkins et Jaspar Jeffries.
Holder of a doctorate in physics (which he defended on May 14, 1962 in Paris) and engineer at the Commissariat à l'Energie atomique, Guadeloupe Raoul-Georges Nicolo is the inventor of the switching block for multi-channel television. This block allows the reception of several channels on the same television set. He is also the inventor of devices for controlling the reactivity of atomic cells in subcritical conditions. Mr. Nicolo is also the initiator of the introduction of electronics in nuclear control devices and has written numerous works of contribution.
Still in the exact sciences, the African-American David Blackwell was awarded the John Von Newman Prize, recognizing the best mathematician in the world.
Born in 1954, a Nigerian emigrated to the United States, Philip Emeagwali was awarded the highest scientific distinction (the Gordon Bill Prize) for the invention in 1989 of the fastest computing computer in the world. Other inventions in the computer field are to be blamed on what one qualifies as genius.
In Chemistry, we can mention the prolific African-American scientist George Washington Carver (1864-1943). His most famous works concern the peanuts and the potato, from which he has drawn products as different as shampoo, vinegar, soap or toilet powder. His discoveries also relate to the transformation of cotton for insulation boards, paper, cordage, the manufacture of plastic auto parts from soybeans and the development of fertilizers.
In the field of medicine, African Americans have been particularly successful. Indeed, the first open-heart operation was successfully performed in 1893 by the Dr. Daniel Hale Williams (1856-1931) at a time when surgery was still in its infancy. His young patient was shot in the chest and then lived to be 50 years old.
By the end of the 30s, we had already succeeded in transfusing blood. But no one knew how to store this fluid which, outside the body, deteriorates rapidly. He's an African-American doctor, Dr. Charles Richard Drew (1904-1950) who will find the solution. He found that plasma was much better suited for storage. His work was of paramount importance in World War II, as this researcher was tasked with organizing the shipment of plasma for the wounded to Great Britain.
In the field of research, the specialist in bacteriology, William Augustus Hinton (1883-1959) carried out research, in particular on the development of a screening test for syphilis which made it possible to advance in the fight against a disease which, not so long ago, terrified as much as AIDS.
Other inventions such as the hair comb, the guitar, the street sweeper, the lawn mower are to be put to the credit of African Americans.
On our continent, we cannot speak of these black scholars without paying homage to the Senegalese Cheikh Anta Diop, renowned physicist and Egyptologist, who died in April 1986. Through his research, he proved the Negro character of ancient Egypt during 'an epic meeting in Cairo in 1974 definitively ruining the theses of Westerners who denied the civilization built in the homeland of the pharaohs, its negritude.
We will not end without mentioning a diaspora researcher, whose name is known worldwide: Mr. Cheick Modibo Diarra, interplanetary navigator at NASA and of Malian origin. He guided the Magellan probes to Venus in 1989, Galileo to Jupiter, Ulysses to the Sun, Observer and Pathfinder to Mars. Today, he is the Microsoft West Africa Director.
In order that the efforts of these black scientists and inventors are not in vain, it behooves us the responsibility not to leave their works in oblivion. We must try to follow in their footsteps and make models for future generations to build our continent. Our pride in being black and our rigor in developing our development projects would be the best reward we could offer them.
Black inventors and scientists: Third edition
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as of April 22, 2024 5:25 am
Is Adult Product | |
Release Date | 2018-10-05T00:00:01Z |
Edition | 3 |
Language | Français |
Number Of Pages | 304 |
Publication Date | 2018-10-05T00:00:01Z |
Format | large format book |