Black History Month - Mathematicians

 


During this Black History Month we are currently working on our Maths Techniques so I thought it was apt to write a little about Black Mathematicians.

Whilst I am a stickler for keeping UK Black History Month focused on UK Black History, I will have to stray from this focus for this topic of Black Mathematicians as even though these Black Mathematicians may not have all been from the UK or spent time in the UK, they certainly paved the way for Black Mathematicians today in the UK.

Africa is the home to the Worlds earliest known use of Mathematics and Calculation. Africans were using numerals, algebra and geometry in daily life, this knowledge spread throughout the world after a series of migrations out of Africa beginning around 30,000 BC and later following a series of invasions of Africa by Europeans and Asians (1700-BC- present).

The oldest Mathematical instrument is the Lebombo Bone, this is a baboon fibula used as a measuring device and named after it's location of discovery the Labombo Mountains of Swaziland. The device dates back 35,000 years, judging by its distinct markings it could have been used to track menstrual or lunar cycles or merely just used as a measuring stick.

More can be found out about this early African Maths from The Ta Neter Foundation which brings to light the ancient and medieval History of Africans in Africa.

Whilst we do know that Africa is the birth place of Mathematics and we can pinpoint its origins,  not much is actually known about individual Black Mathematicians before the Greeks who developed maths like  Archimedes a Greek who is known as the greatest mathematician of all time, although it is known that the majority of Greek Mathematicians studied in Egypt.

In modern Mathematics there has been and are some notable Black mathematicians although there has been no Black Winner of  the Fields medal, the "Nobel prize of mathematics" which started in 1936 and non that could match the genius of Carl Friedrich Gauss 1777-1855.

Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806) is often recognized as the first African American mathematician; however, ex-slave Thomas Fuller's (1710-1790) and the Nigerian Muhammad ibn Muhammad's (16??-1741) activities predate Benjamin Banneker. None of these men had formal degrees.

Clifford Victor Johnson (born 5 March 1968 in London) is an English theoretical physicist and professor at the University of Southern California Department of Physics and Astronomy. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education listed Clifford Johnson as the most highly cited black professor of mathematics or a related field at an American university or college.

Katherine Adebola Okikiolu (born 1965) is a British mathematician is known for her work with elliptic differential operators as well as her work with inner-city children.

Elbert Frank Cox (December 5, 1895 – November 28, 1969) was an American mathematician who became the first black person in the world to receive a Ph.D. in Mathematics. 

Euphemia Lofton Haynes (1890 - 1980), 1st Black Female Mathematics PhD she faced three obstacles in becoming a PhD mathematician. She was female, she was Black and she was in her 50’s.

Ali Mostafa Mosharafa (1898-1950) The first African to earn a Ph.D. from the University of London in 1923 and 1924

David Blackwell  (1919-2010) At the age of 22, becomes the seventh african american to earn a Ph.D. in Mathematics (University of Illinois). He may well be the greatest black Mathematician.

 

J. Ernest Wilkins (1923-2011) At age 19,  becomes the eight african american to earn a Ph.D. in Mathematics (University of Chicago). He is certainly one of the greatest black Mathematicians.

Clarence Ellis (1943-2014) is the first African American to earn a Computer Science Ph.D

Abraham Manie Adelstein. (1916-1992) Mathematician, Scientist, Statistician, became became the United Kingdom's Chief Medical Statistician.

There are obviously many more but not as many as there should be to add to this list, especially British Black Mathematicians of which the reasons are discussed in the book Beyond Banneker by Erica Walker.