Lightbulbs, birth control pills, lasers, microphones, shoes. At first glance, this list seems like a collection of random items. A little research reveals a common thread that unites them all: they were invented by or improved upon by African American scientists.
As part of Black History Month, Chimes felt it important to highlight these inventors and their accomplishments. Without them, modern life would look much different.
The first of these inventors is Lewis Latimer. Born in 1848 in Chelsea, Mass., to parents who fled slavery, Latimer began his career in the navy before becoming a post boy at a patent firm. While at the firm, he taught himself mechanical drawing by examining the patents that came through the firm.
The partners at the firm, recognizing Latimer’s talent, promoted him to draftsman. As a draftsman, he worked with Alexander Graham Bell to draw the designs Bell would go on to use in the patent for the first telephone in 1876.
Latimer’s most significant accomplishment, though, was his invention of the carbon filament for incandescent light bulbs. The carbon filament did not burn out as easily as the original paper filaments, which meant light bulbs lasted much longer. This development made it possible for light bulbs’ proliferation in households and street lamps. Latimer’s invention literally lit up the world.
Our second inventor and scientist developed the technique for chemical synthesis, which paved the way for many medical breakthroughs. Percy Julian was born in 1899 in Montgomery, Ala., and received his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Vienna in 1931.
After earning his doctorate degree, Julian began teaching chemistry at DePauw University. There, in collaboration with his Vienna colleague Josef Pikl and several students, Julian completed the total synthesis of the chemical physostigmine. Doctors use physostigmine, which naturally occurs in the calabar bean, to treat glaucoma patients.
Later, Julian would discover how to synthesize progesterone, testosterone and cortisone. Doctors regularly use cortisone to treat rheumatoid arthritis.
Julian’s achievements have proven invaluable to both the chemistry and medical fields.
Another important contributor to the medical field, Patricia Bath, was born in Harlem in 1942. She earned her doctoral degree from Howard University and completed her residency at New York University in 1973.
Bath is an ophthalmologist and was the first African American to complete their residency in that field. She served as a faculty member at the Jules Stein Eye Institute (the first woman to do so), and co-founded the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness in 1978.
Among her other accomplishments, Bath is also the first African-American woman to hold a medical patent for her invention of the Laserphaco Probe. The device uses laser technology to administer less painful and more precise treatment of people with cataracts. Ophthalmologists around the world use the Laserphaco Probe to treat cataracts. Bath is credited with restoring eyesight to people who have been blind for decades.
The next inventor created something that is integral to the cell phones many of us carry in our pockets: microphones.
James West, born in 1931 in Farmville, Va., earned a B.S. in physics from Temple University in 1961. His interest in electronics stems from a childhood accident, when he accidentally shocked himself with 120 volts of electricity after plugging in a faulty radio.
While in school, West spent his summers interning at the Acoustics Research Department, part of Bell Laboratories in New Jersey. He translated this experience to a job at the same lab upon graduation.
In 1960, West worked with Gerhard M. Sessler to develop the electroacoustic transducer electret microphone. These microphones use permanently charged materials, eliminating the need for a polarizing power source and making microphone manufacturing much simpler. Now, his design is used in 90 percent of all microphones produced annually.
The final inventor made a machine that increased manufacturing efficiency of an item almost everyone has with them: shoes. Jan Ernst Matzeliger was born to a Dutch father and an African slave mother in Dutch Guyana (now Suriname) in 1852. At age 19, Matzeliger moved to the United States.
At the time, shoes were made inefficiently. An individual had to sew the sole of the shoe to the top; the fastest workers could make 50 shoes a day at most.
Matzeliger developed a machine to drastically increase shoe production, obtaining a patent in 1883. His machine, the “automatic method for the lasting shoe,” could make between 150-700 shoes a day. This cut shoe prices in half across the country, meaning a larger portion of the population could afford them.
Latimer, Julian, Bath, West and Matzeliger were all pioneers in their respective fields. Their inventions improved the quality of life for millions of people. It is important we celebrate their achievements, especially during this time of year.
