David Blackwell, Mathematician, Author and Game Theorist (1919)

David Harold Blackwell (April 24, 1919–July 8, 2010), a mathematician, author and game theorist, entered the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign at age 16 and was awarded a Ph.D. in Mathematics at age 22.

Also of note:

• Calyampudi Radhakrishna Rao and David Blackwell formulated what has come to be known as the Rao–Blackwell Theorem in Statistics
• in 1965, he was the first African-American inducted into the National Academy of Sciences, an honor society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research for the furtherance of science and technology for humanity
• he was the first black tenured faculty member at University of California, Berkeley
• he authored the textbook Basic Statistics, which was published in 1969
• he was awarded the John von Neumann Theory Prize in 1979
• in 2002, the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley, California, and Cornell University established the Blackwell-Tapia Award in honor of David Blackwell and Richard A. Tapia, distinguished mathematical scientists who have been inspirations to more than a generation of African-American and Hispanic-American students and professionals in the mathematical sciences¹
• Lastly, the following quote has been attributed to David Blackwell:

I've worked in so many areas—I'm sort of a dilettante. Basically, I'm not interested in doing research and I never have been. I'm interested in understanding, which is quite a different thing. And often to understand something you have to work it out yourself because no one else has done it.²

External Links:

1. David Blackwell (Bellevue College)
2. Arlie Petters receives first Blackwell-Tapia Prize

Quoted References:

1. Who Are The Greatest Black Mathematicians?
2. David Blackwell @ Wikipedia

Further References:

1. Rao-Blackwell Theorem @ Scholarpedia
2. National Academy of Sciences:  About the NAS

Alice H. Parker, Inventor (?)

Alice H. Parker is, indeed, a rare find. Not much biographical information was found on the Internet about her. Her biography is sometimes confused with that of another Alice Parker, a composer, arranger and conductor.

Alice Parker--the African-American inventor, that is--patented a gas-powered central heating furnace on December 23, 1919 (U.S. Patent 1,325,905).

External Links:

1. Alice H. Parker - True African American Heat (Parle Magazine)


2. Alice Parker History Beat: Now You Know (YouTube.com)


3. Alice Parker (theinventors.org)

References:

1. African-American Bibliography - Science & Medicine (University of Pennsylvania)


2. 2/21/03 Black History Month Special Report, Part III (UAW-Chrysler)

Marie Van Brittan Brown (1922)

At the time of this writing, not much biographical information could be gathered about Marie Van Brittan Brown (October 30, 1922-February 2, 1999)¹, unfortunately. Notwithstanding, she has been credited for:

• inventing, with her partner, Albert Brown,² the "home security system utilizing television surveillance,"³ (the forerunner to the modern home security system)


• receiving United States Patent No. 3482037 in 1969 for the invention⁴

External Links:

1. Marie Van Brittan Brown: Home Security Inventions


2. African-American Inventors & Inventions: African Women Inventors


3. The Significance of the Burglar Alarm | eHow.com


4. HOME SECURITY SYSTEM UTILIZING TELEVISION SURVEILLANCE - Marie, Van Brittan Brown


5. Marie Van Brittan Brown @ Wikipedia


6. US Black Engineer & IT - Google Books (Google Books search)


7. Black Inventions In Daily Life by Matt Montague (US Black Engineer & IT)

References:

1. Marie Van Brittan Brown @ Wikipedia


2. Marie Van Brittan Brown: Home Security Inventions


3. HOME SECURITY SYSTEM UTILIZING TELEVISION SURVEILLANCE - Marie, Van Brittan Brown


4. ibid.


5. African-American Inventors & Inventions: African Women Inventors


6. The Significance of the Burglar Alarm | eHow.com

Valerie L. Thomas, Inventor (1943)

The honor of being this blog's first featured personality goes to Valerie L. Thomas.

Two of Valerie L. Thomas's notable contributions among many are:

• In 1980, she received a patent for her "illusion transmitter," which uses a concave mirror on the transmitting end as well as on the receiving end to produce optical illusion images. NASA uses the technology today, and scientists are currently working on ways to incorporate it into tools for surgeons to look inside the human body, and possibly for television sets and video screens one day.¹


• Project manager for the development of NASA's image-processing system on Landsat, the first satellite to send images from outer space.²

External Links:

1. Valerie L. Thomas Retires


2. Inventor of the Week: Archive (mit.edu)


3. Valerie Thomas - Valerie Thomas and the Illusion Transmitter

References:

1. Inventor of the Week: Archive (mit.edu)


2. Valerie Thomas - Valerie Thomas and the Illusion Transmitter

What's Your Contribution?

Welcome to What's Your Contribution, Knowledge Seeker.

The overriding perception in the land mass known as the United States of America is that, culturally, the contributions of Blacks has been in sports and entertainment.

So this blog's mission is currently two-fold:

1. To let it be known that Blacks do contribute all across the spectrum, not just in sports and entertainment.


2. To challenge and inspire all Netizens (that means you, Reader) to make contributions toward the growth and advancement of our global community.

So what's your contribution? (While you formulate your response, please enjoy the blog…and thank you for visiting.)