Hidden Figures: Carolyn B. Parker #BlackHERstoryMonth 19/29 (Patreon)

Hidden Figures: Carolyn B. Parker #BlackHERstoryMonth 19/29

Carolyn Beatrice Parker (1917–1966) was a physicist who worked from 1943 to 1947 on the Dayton Project, the plutonium research and development arm of the Manhattan Project (The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons.) After the successful completion of the project, she became an assistant professor in physics at Fisk University. Carolyn B. Parker was born in Gainesville, Florida on November 18, 1917; she was one of six, all but one of whom received natural science or mathematics degrees. Her father was Julius A. Parker, a physician who was the second Black American to receive a PhD from Harvard. Her mother, Della Murrell Parker, was a sister of Joan Murrell Owens, a marine biologist who was one of the first Black American women to receive a PhD in geology. Carolyn Parker graduated magna cum laude with a degree from Fisk University in 1938, before going on to receive a Masters in mathematics from the University of Michigan in 1941. While working towards her masters, Parker taught public school science and math in Florida and Virginia, and after receiving it, she became an instructor in physics and mathematics at Bluefield State College from 1942–1943. From 1943 to 1947, Parker was a research physicist on the Dayton Project, at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. The Dayton Project was part of the Manhattan Project to develop atomic weapons during World War II, and the Cold War, and Parker worked with the Monsanto Chemical Company doing top-secret research on using polonium as the initiator for atomic explosions. The Manhattan project was active from 1942 to 1946, and was disbanded after the formation of the United States Atomic Energy Commission in January 1947. After the Manhattan project was shut down, Parker became an assistant professor of physics at Fisk University in Tennessee, and she also returned to her academic studies: in 1951, she gained a Master's in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and she went on to complete the course work for a PhD in 1953. She is the first Black American woman known to have gained a postgraduate degree in physics. Unfortunately, Parker developed leukemia in the early 1950s, which her family believed was radiation-induced from her work on the Manhattan project. Her work in Dayton revolved around using polonium as the catalyst for atomic bombs, and leukemia is regarded as a risk of occupational polonium exposure; Parker died of leukemia in Gainesville, Florida on March 3, 1966 at the age of 47. In 2000, 34 years after her death, the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program included leukemia as a compensable illness for workers at the Dayton Project who were, or should have been, regularly monitored for polonium levels and were employed there over a certain time. #HiddenFigures #CarolynBParker ****************** Merchandise! MAKE SURE U GETTA SHIRT!! https://www.teepublic.com/user/sssseren Follow me on social media! Instagram: @sensei_aishitemasu Personal Tumblr: http://sensei-aishitemasu.tumblr.com Tumblr for my work: https://sssseren.tumblr.com Snapchat: sssseren GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/tc5wh7q Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/seren_sensei ****************** Did you know I wrote a book? ☺️ 'So, About That... A Year of Contemporary Essays on Race and Pop Culture' Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/About-That-Contemporary-Essays-Culture-ebook/dp/B013V0CHK6 Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013V0CHK6 Digital download (e-book): https://gumroad.com/l/IkUa ****************** Links: Black Women Scientists in the United States: https://books.google.com/books/about/Black_Women_Scientists_in_the_United_Sta.html?id=75bnncOVqEIC https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/black-women-scientists-in-the-united-states-wini-warren/1101477178;jsessionid=2D54F5A8117F78B48C243774DAE186E8.prodny_store02-atgap15?ean=9780253336033 http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?isbn=0253336031 Carolyn Beatrice Parker: https://www.nsbp.org/nsbp-news/bhm-physics-profiles/bhm-2020/666-carolyn-beatrice-parker Carolyn Parker (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolyn_Parker Manhattan Project (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project