Black Inventors


buckwheat

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George Alcorn


As part of our celebration of Black History Month, Africana is highlighting the achievements of several noted African American inventors. For more Black History Month content, visit our BHM 2004 Resource Center, or our Heritage Channel.


Method for Making X-Ray Spectrometer

If there is life on Mars, as today's Spirit rover is trying to find out, one clue will be the existence of various chemical substances consistent with life as we know it. Detecting those substances is the work of the x-ray spectrometer, a highly fine-tuned tool used in astronomical research. One of the key innovators in the development of x-ray spectrometry was George Edward Alcorn.
A graduate of Occidental College in California, Alcorn earned a PhD in Atomic and Molecular Physics from Howard University in 1967. In his career as a scientist mostly employed by NASA, Alcorn worked mostly on semiconductor technology, and holds eight patents, including one for the fabrication of a new kind of x-ray spectrometer.
 
http://www.africana.com/articles/daily/bhmbrown.asp


Marie Brown


As part of our celebration of Black History Month, Africana is highlighting the achievements of several noted African American inventors. For more Black History Month content, visit our BHM 2004 Resource Center, or our Heritage Channel.


Video Home Security System

Some 20 years after the television had entered America's homes, African American inventor Marie Brown patented a system that would use television cameras to monitor home safety and security. Her patent, #3,482,037, was granted in December, 1969 ? predating by several years the common use of video security systems in banks, stores and apartment buildings.
 



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