Race and Culture in the Classroom
Africa
Wangari Maathai (Kenya) - Environmental scientist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate for her work in sustainable development, environmental conservation, and women's rights.
Tebello Nyokong (South Africa) - Chemist and professor at Rhodes University. Her research focuses on the development of new materials for use in clean energy technologies.
Olugbenga Ogedegbe (Nigeria) - Physician and epidemiologist. His research has focused on the relationship between social and environmental factors and health outcomes in African American communities.
Asia
Nobuhiro Terasawa (Japan) - Neuroscientist and professor at the University of Tokyo. His research has focused on the development of new treatments for neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.
Shih-Yi Chou (Taiwan) - Chemist and professor at the National Taiwan University. Her research has focused on the development of new materials for use in organic electronics.
Sühbaatar Batbold (Mongolia) - Mathematician and professor at the Mongolian University of Science and Technology. His research has focused on the development of new methods for solving differential equations.
Europe
Emmy Noether (Germany) - Mathematician who made significant contributions to abstract algebra and theoretical physics.
Marie Curie (Poland) - Physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the only woman to win in two different fields.
Rosalind Franklin (England) - Chemist and X-ray crystallographer who made significant contributions to the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA, RNA, viruses, coal, and graphite.
Latin America
Susana López Charretón (Mexico) - Physicist and professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Her research has focused on the development of new materials for use in solar cells.
Marcia Barbosa (Brazil) - Chemist and professor at the University of São Paulo. Her research has focused on the development of new drugs for the treatment of cancer.
Gabriela González (Argentina) - Physicist and professor at Louisiana State University. Her research has focused on the detection and study of gravitational waves.
North America
Mae Jemison (United States) - Physician and astronaut. She was the first African American woman to travel into space.
Maria Teresa Ruiz (Chile) - Astronomer and professor at the University of Chile. Her research has focused on the study of galaxies and the formation of stars.
Shirley Ann Jackson (United States) - Physicist and president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Her research has focused on the development of new materials for use in electronic devices.
Oceania
Suzanne Cory (Australia) - Molecular biologist and cancer researcher. She is best known for her discovery of the bcl-2 gene, which is involved in the regulation of cell death.
Michelle Simmons (Australia) - Physicist and professor at the University of New South Wales. Her research has focused on the development of new materials for use in quantum computing.
Te Rangi Hiroa (New Zealand) - Anthropologist and explorer. He is best known for his groundbreaking studies of Polynesian culture and history.
Male Scientists
Ahmed Zewail (Egypt): Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1999 for his work on femtochemistry, the study of chemical reactions that occur within a quadrillionth of a second.
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (India): Nobel Prize in Physics 1983 for his work on the evolution of stars.
Tu Youyou (China): Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2015 for her work on the discovery of artemisinin, a malaria drug.
Abdus Salam (Pakistan): Nobel Prize in Physics 1979 for his work on the electroweak theory, which unifies the electromagnetic and weak forces.
Wangari Maathai (Kenya): Nobel Peace Prize 2004 for her work on sustainable development, democracy, and peace.
Female Scientists
Marie Curie (Poland): Nobel Prizes in Physics (1903) and Chemistry (1911) for her work on radioactivity.
Rosalind Franklin (England): Discovered the structure of DNA, though her contributions were initially overshadowed by those of Watson and Crick.
Barbara McClintock (United States): Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1983 for her discovery of transposable elements, or "jumping genes".
Chien-Shiung Wu (China): Experimental physicist who disproved the conservation of parity, a fundamental principle of physics.
Elizabeth Blackwell (United States): First woman to graduate from medical school in the United States.
Additional Scientists
George Washington Carver (United States): African-American agricultural scientist and inventor who developed hundreds of uses for peanuts and soybeans.
Yuri Gagarin (Russia): First human to travel into space.
Jane Goodall (England): Primatologist who has spent over 60 years studying chimpanzees in Tanzania.
Abdul Qadeer Khan (Pakistan): Nuclear physicist who helped Pakistan develop nuclear weapons.
Grace Hopper (United States): Computer scientist who developed the first compiler for a computer programming language.