African Americans Who Contributed to Theories in Math
- Benjamin Banneker is widely considered the first great African-American mathematician and scientist. A prodigy at discovering how things worked, Banneker first found fame in the 1750s when running his family farm. There, he designed irrigation canals that kept his farm producing during droughts, then made a clock from wood that worked perfectly after taking apart a friend's watch and observing how the pieces connected.
He began studying mathematics and astronomy seriously in the early 1770s and learned how to calculate solar eclipses, changing astronomy forever. Also, he made the formula that calculates the lengths of the sides of an equilateral triangle, with a known diameter, inside a circle. - The first African American to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics in 1925, Elbert Frank Cox became the head of West Virginia Stage College's mathematics and physics department that same year. This was a remarkable achievement, even without considering the prejudice of the day; according to Buffalo State University, more men were lynched in 1925 than earned Ph.D.s in mathematics! Cornell University worried about the difficulties of enrolling an African American, but after a year they accepted him on a scholarship. There, he received his mathematics Ph.D.
Cox went on to expand work on both Euler and general polynomials, as well as Boole's generalized summation formula. He moved from West Virginia State University to Howard College where he worked until his death in 1969. Today, Howard offers the Elbert Frank Cox scholarship to African-American math undergrads in his honor. - Born in 1923, J. Earnest Wilkins Jr. is famous for his work with linear differential equations, integrals and differential geometry. Most of all, he's known for his work in nuclear engineering. Attaining his Ph.D. in mathematics at age 19, Wilkins Jr. had trouble finding employment in white universities. According to his Buffalo State University profile, the American Mathematics Society refused to let him stay, or even eat, with them during a 1947 meeting). Consequently, he did much of his work for the U.S. government, which led him into the field of nuclear engineering. His work on gamma rays and heat shielding is still relevant to the military today. He also taught at African-American Colleges like Howard and Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee University.
- Marjorie Lee Browne learned her enthusiasm for math from her father, who had attended college, according to her Buffalo State University biography. Born in 1914, she worked her way through Howard University during the Great Depression and earned her Ph.D. in mathematics in 1949. She was the third black woman to do so. She became head of department at North Carolina Central University in 1951, where she taught for almost 20 years. Her research in linear and matrix algebra, as well as relations between classic groups, remains famous today in math circles. Always interested in teaching, Browne wrote several textbooks for math students, helping new students learn the theories and equations she had refined.