Blacks and Science Volume Three: African American Contributions to Science and Technology

Did YOU know that a camera invented by a Black astrophysicist was used during the Apollo 16 space mission to collect ultraviolet images photographed from the moon? In fact did you know any of the following facts? • An early eighteenth century Virginia slave developed effective treatments against skin and venereal disease. In fact: ‘His work was so outstanding that in 1729 the Virginia Legislature bought him from his owner, thus freeing him from slavery, to practice medicine exclusively’ • Astronomical works by a late eighteenth century Black mathematician and astronomer were widely read and ‘became a household staple in early America along with the Bible’ • A nineteenth century African American blacksmith patented an invention described as ‘the most important single invention in the whole history of whaling’ • A nineteenth century inventor of Black South American heritage created such a revolution in the shoe industry, that it was said of him: ‘What Edison is to artificial lighting, [h