As the first African American woman to go to space, Dr. Mae Jemison has lived, and continues to live, a truly incredible life. Dr. Jemison has expressed an interest in science since she was in elementary school, where she would read books about science and astronomy. She attended Stanford University and obtained a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering in 1977. She then attended Cornell University Medical College, where she additionally studied in Cuba and Kenya, and worked at a Cambodian refugee camp in Thailand.
In 1981, she obtained her M.D., and spent time working as a general practitioner. She also was a Peace Corps medical officer in Sierra Leone and Liberia, also spending time teaching and conducting medical research. This research included participating in and developing research projects on the Hepatitis B vaccine, schistosomiasis, and rabies with the National Institute of Health and the Center for Disease Control.
In 1985, Dr. Jemison decided to reach for the stars and pursue a career she had been passionate about since she was a child: astronomy. She applied to the NASA astronaut training program, and eventually was admitted. She was the first African American woman to be accepted into the program, and later became the first African American female astronaut. In 1992, Dr. Jemison became the first African American woman to fly to space.
In 1993, after Dr. Jemison decided to end her career as an astronaut, she founded The Jemison Group, a technology consulting firm. The work The Jemison Group does takes the impact of social, political, cultural, and economic issues into account while designing and implementing technologies to help developing countries. Projects done by The Jemison Group include investigating the use of satellite technology for health care delivery in West Africa, and solar dish Stirling engines for electricity generation in developing countries.
Dr. Jemison also founded the Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence, named after her mother, who was a teacher in the Chicago public school system for over twenty-five years. A part of this foundation is The Earth We Share, which focuses on building science literacy. Additionally, Dr. Jemison is currently leading the 100 Year Starship project, which is working to ensure that human space travel beyond our own solar system is possible in the next 100 years.
Through her numerous years of experience as a physician, a scientist, and an astronaut, Dr. Jemison has clearly made her mark on the world. When asked how she makes a difference, Dr Jemison has stated that during her experience as Peace Corps Area Medical Officer, she learned about healthcare in developing countries. As an astronaut, she was able to learn about concepts such as remote sensing satellite telecommunications. Now, she is able to put ideas she learned from her past careers into the work she does, using advanced technologies to help developing countries, blending social issues with technological design.
*******************************************
Thank you for reading! If you like what we researched for you and presented in this blog post, and would like to read more blog posts like this, please consider signing up for email updates by