Shirley jackson black history
- Shirley ann jackson contributions to science
- Shirley ann jackson inventions
- Shirley ann jackson childhood
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Shirley Ann Jackson
American physicist (born 1946)
This article is about the scientist and university administrator. For the writer, see Shirley Jackson.
Shirley Ann Jackson, FREng (born August 5, 1946) is an American physicist, and was the 18th president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She was the subject of false claims (made by others, not by Jackson herself) that she invented caller ID and call waiting.
She is the first African American woman to have earned a doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in Theoretical Elementary Particle Physics.[1][2] She is also the second African American woman in the United States to earn a doctorate in physics.[3]
She conducted breakthrough basic scientific research that enabled others to invent the portable fax, touch tone telephone, solar cells, fiber optic cables, and the technology behind caller ID and call waiting.[4]
Biography
Jackson was born in Washington, D.C., and attended Roosevelt Senior High School. After graduation in 1964, she enrolled at MIT
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Perot Museum of Nature and Science
August 5, 1946 – Present
Shirley Ann Jackson was born in 1946 in Washington, D.C. to Beatrice and George Jackson. She graduated as valedictorian of her class at Roosevelt Senior High School in Washington, D.C. Following high school, she started her studies in theoretical physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dr. Jackson was one of the first Black students to attend MIT and encountered severe racism during her nine years of attendance. Although students told her to go away or avoided her during meals, Jackson soldiered on, receiving her B.S. in 1968 and her Ph.D. in particle physics in 1973.
Dr. Jackson was the first Black woman to receive a Ph.D. from MIT. During her tenure there, she helped form the Black Student Union and was partially responsible for the formation of the Task Force on Education Opportunities, on which she served as a member before graduating with her doctorate. Fifty seven new Black students were admitted to MIT following the first year of the Task Force.
After obtaining her Ph.D., Jackson began pos
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Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson
Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, a theoretical physicist and famous black inventor, has been credited with making many advances in science. She first developed an interest in science and mathematics during her childhood and conducted experiments and studies, such as those on the eating habits of honeybees. She followed this interest to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where she received a bachelor, and doctoral degree, all in the field of physics. In doing so she became the first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. from MIT.
Jackson conducted successful experiments in theoretical physics and used her knowledge of physics to foster advances in telecommunications research while working at Bell Laboratories. Dr. Jackson conducted breakthrough basic scientific research that enabled others to invent the portable fax, touch tone telephone, solar cells, fiber optic cables, and the technology behind caller ID and call waiting.
Currently, Jackson is the president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the oldest technological research university in the Un
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