Great African Minds

[calysto]

Nobel prize winner and co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, biologist James Watson, is in trouble for saying (among other horrendous things) that Africans and their descendants aren't as intelligent as other races. [article] This lead me to research some of the great African minds which have impacted history:

• Mark Dean - invented the microcomputer system with bus control means for peripheral processing devices - you're using his technology to read this.
• Dr. Charles Drew - Established Blood Banks all over the world - and has saved millions of lives
• Alexander Miles - invented an improved elevator
• Garrett A. Morgan invented the Gas Mask, which saved many lives during WWI, and the Automatic Traffic Signal
• Dr. Daniel Hale Williams - performed the first open heart surgery
• George Edward Alcorn - Invented the x-ray spectrometer
• Otis Boykin - Boykin invented an improved 'Electrical Resistor' used in computers, radios, television sets and a variety of electronic devices
• George Washington Carver - Agricultural chemist, George Washington Carver invented three hundred uses for peanuts and hundreds more uses for soybeans, pecans, and sweet potatoes. More than anyone else in history.
• Benjamin S. Carson - Benjamin Carson was a pioneer in surgery technology
• Donald Cotton - Donald Cotton invented propellants for nuclear reactors.
• Percy Lavon Julian - Julian synthesized the medicines physostigmine for glaucoma and cortisone used for rheumatoid arthritis and he invented fire-extinguishing equipment.
• Louis Roberts - research interests focused on microwave and optical techniques and components, plasma research, solid state component and circuit development.
• Jerry Shelby - NASA engineer Jerry Shelby invented an engine protection system for a recoverable rocket booster.
• John Henry Thompson - Invented lingo programming used in Macromedia Director and Shockwave.
• Granville Woods - African American, Granville Woods invented improvements to electric railways, air brakes, the telephone and the telegraph. He invented a chicken egg incubator and an apparatus for an amusement park ride.
• Martin Luther King, Jr. - Reverend and Civil Rights leader - improved the lives of millions
• Harriet Tubman - escaped slave who, despite a brain injury as a child, masterminded the underground railroad
• Desmond Tutu - Nobel Peace Prize winner who fought Apartheid and AIDS in Africa
• Nelson Mandela - Nobel Peace Prize winner who helped defeat Apartheid, much of the time while unjustly imprisoned.

Clearly, African minds are disadvantaged.

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]