We appreciate that the definition of a physicist is broader than the old definition of “only those have physics degrees”, particularly in the current multidisciplinary academic landscape. This page includes all of the African American women with PhDs who identify as physicists. In some cases, a person may have a degree in Electrical Engineering or Physical Chemistry, but the science that she does is physics. If they participate in the physics community and identify themselves as physicists—we include them on this page.
We have also included 4 pioneers—women who due to various circumstance did not finish their PhD, but studied advanced physics before 1980.
If you believe that you or someone you know should be included on this list, if you have a correction or update, or if you’d like to be removed please contact us using the link above.
| Graduated | Name | Field | Grad School | Undergrad | Employer | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1940 [BS] | Katherine G. Johnson | Physics | West Virginia State (BS) (attended graduate school in the 1940s) | NASA (Retired) | https://www.nasa.gov/feature/katherine-johnson-the-girl-who-loved-to-count | |
| 1971 [MS] | Hattie Carwell | Health Physics | Rutgers | Bennett | US Department of Energy (Retired) | http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/hattie-carwell |
| 1972 | Willie Hobbs Moore | Physics | Univ. of Michigan | Univ. of Michigan | Ford (Deceased) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Hobbs_Moore |
| 1973 | Shirley Ann Jackson | Physics | MIT | MIT | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Ann_Jackson |
| 1973 | Anna J. Coble | Biophysics | Univ. of Illinois | Howard Univ. (Deceased) | http://www.physics1.howard.edu/people/facultyandstaff_acoble.html | |
| 1974 | Arlene P Maclin | Physics | Howard Univ. | North Carolina A&T State Univ. | MAC-CAE Program / Morgan State Univ. | http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/arlene-maclin |
| 1974 [MS] | Francine Wright Bellson * | Physics | MIT | Music Manager | ||
| 1975 | Muchere C. Russ | Physical Chemistry | Univ. of Pittsburgh | Howard Univ. | IBM and Huston-Tillotson Univ. (Retired) | https://www.linkedin.com/in/muchere-russ-b0258a1a |
| 1976 | Sigrid McAfee | Physics | NYU-Poly | Vassar College | Rutgers Univ. | https://www.linkedin.com/in/sigrid-mcafee-0022b017 |
| 1976 | Janet Smith-Kintner | Physics | Univ. of Minnesota | Grinnell | Cornell Univ. (Deceased) | |
| 1977 | Elvira Williams | Physics | Howard Univ. | NC central | Shaw Univ. | https://www.amazon.com/Physics-Queen-Authorized-Biography-Louvenia-ebook/dp/B00VHSCLLU |
| 1977 [MS] | Patricia Canty Wyatt | Physics | MIT | Emmanuel College | General Electric (Deceased) | https://www.linkedin.com/in/patricia-canty-wyatt-45b258a |
| 1980 | Deborah Jackson | Physics | Stanford Univ. | MIT | National Science Foundation | https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborahjackson2 |
| 1981 | Barbara A. Williams | Radio Astronomy | Univ. of Maryland | Univ of NC | Univ. of Delaware (retired) | |
| 1985 | Nola Hylton | Applied Physics | Stanford Univ. | MIT | Univ. of San Francisco | http://profiles.ucsf.edu/nola.hylton |
| 1986 | Mercedes Richards | Astronomy | Univ. of Toronto | Univ of West Indies | Penn State Univ. | http://www2.astro.psu.edu/~mrichards/ |
| 1986 | Mary James | Applied Physics | Stanford Univ. | Hampshire College | Reed College | http://www.reed.edu/physics/faculty/james/ |
| 1987 | Willetta Greene-Johnson | Physics | Univ. of Chicago | Stanford Univ. | Loyola Univ. Chicago | https://www.linkedin.com/in/willetta-greene-johnson-29357611 |
| 1989 | Fay Marks | Physics | Stanford Univ. | Swanlight Organization | http://www.swanlight.org/ | |
| 1990 | Cynthia R. McIntyre | Physics | MIT | Council on Competitiveness | ||
| 1990 | Theda Daniels-Race | Electrical Engineering | Cornell Univ. | Rice Univ. | Louisiana State Univ. | http://www.ece.lsu.edu/tdr/index.html |
| 1991 | Reva Williams | Astrophysics | Indiana Univ. Bloomington | Northwestern Univ. | Bennett College and Univ. of Florida | http://astro1.panet.utoledo.edu/~rwilliam/ph/Curriculum_Vita.pdf |
| 1993 | Evelyn Hammonds | History of Science | MIT | Spelman College | Harvard (retired) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelynn_M._Hammonds |
| 1993 | Chantale Damas | Applied Physics | UCSD | Rensselaer | Medgar Evers College | https://www.linkedin.com/in/m-chantale-damas-88597638 |
| 1993 | Claudia Alexander | Space Physics | Univ. of Michigan | UC Berkeley | JPL (Deceased) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudia_Alexander |
| 1994 | Shelia Nash-Stevenson | Physics | Alabama A&M University | Alabama A&M University | NASA | https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelia-k-nash-stevenson-a5432328 |
| 1994 | Meredith Williams | Physics | NC State Univ. | Yale | California EPA | https://www.dtsc.ca.gov/InformationResources/Exec/Meredith-Williams-Deputy-Director.cfm |
| 1995 | Zelda Gills | Optics | Georgia Tech | Southern University | Lockheed Martin | http://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.4.2571/full/ |
| 1996 | Alicia Clay-Jones | Chemical Physics | UC Davis | Loyola Univ. New Orleans | GE Capital and Loyola Univ. New Orleans | http://cas.loyno.edu/physics/bios/alicia-clay-jones |
| 1996 | Gillian Reynolds-Titko | Physics | MIT | Hunter College of CUNY | Dupont | https://www.linkedin.com/in/gillianreynoldstitko |
| 1997 | Pamela Blakeslee | Physics | MIT | Univ. of Chicago | Washington State Univ. | https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/43295/36889563-MIT.pdf?sequence=2 |
| 1997 | Martha Gilmore | Planetary Science | Brown Univ. | Franklin & Marshall | Wesleyan | http://mgilmore.faculty.wesleyan.edu/ |
| 1997 | Jarita Holbrook | Astronomy & Astrophysics | UCSC | California Institute of Technology | Univ. of Western Cape (S. Africa) | https://www.linkedin.com/in/jarita-holbrook-b6524b1 |
| 1997 | Njema J. Frazier | Physics | Michigan State Univ. | Carnegie Mellon University | National Defense Univ. | https://www.linkedin.com/in/njema-frazier-2496122 |
| 1998 | Donna Washington Stokes | Physics | Univ. of Houston | Southern Univ. | Univ. of Houston | http://nsmn1.uh.edu/dwstokes/ |
| 1998 | Beth Brown | Astronomy | Univ. of Michigan | Howard Univ. | NASA (Deceased) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beth_A._Brown |
| 1998 | Apriel Hodari | Physics | Hampton Univ. | Purdue Univ | Center for Naval Analysis | https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahodari |
| 1998 | Florence Egbe-Etop | Physics | Hampton Univ. | Bowie State Univ. | ||
| 1999 | Dara Norman | Astronomy | Univ. of Washington | MIT | NOAO | http://ast.noao.edu/about/people/norman |
| 1999 | Marta Dark McNeese | Physics | MIT | University of Virginia | Spelman College | http://www.spelman.edu/academics/majors-and-programs/physics/faculty/marta-dark-mcneese |
| 2000 | Sandra Brown | Condensed Matter | MIT | McCarter and English Attorneys at Law | ||
| 2000 | Denise Brown-Anderson | Optical Materials | UAB | Center for Naval Analysis | ||
| 2000 | Helen Major | Optics/Plasma Physics | Howard Univ. | Lincoln Univ. (PA) | ||
| 2000 | Kharissia Pettus | Physical Chemistry | UC San Diego | University of Virginia | Freelance Science Writer | |
| 2000 | Ruth D. Jones | Physics | Alabama A & M Univ. | NASA Glenn Research Center | ||
| 2001 | Anouk Shambrook | Astronomy & Astrophysics | UCSC | SmartStrategies | ||
| 2001 | Andrea Stith | Biophysics | Univ. of Virginia | Univ. of Colorado at Boulder | ||
| 2001 | Trina Coleman | Theoretical Nuclear Physics | Hampton Univ. | |||
| 2001 | Erica Thompson | Optical Physics | Hampton Univ. | Califormia Institute of Technology | ||
| 2001 | Letemeskel Asfaw | Physics | Kent State Univ. | Addis Ababa Univ. | Hope Univ. College in Addis Ababa | https://www.linkedin.com/in/letemeskel-asfaw-64637920 |
| 2001 | Windy Hinton | Nuclear Physics | Hampton Univ. | Norfolk State | ||
| 2002 | Tabbetha Dobbins | Materials Science and Nanoscience | Pennsylvania State Univ. | Lincoln Univ. | Rowan Univ. | |
| 2002 | Carol Scarlett | Physics | Univ. of MIchigan | Florida A & M Univ. | ||
| 2002 | Kandis Lea Jessup | Astrophysics | Univ. of Michigan | SWRI | http://www.swri.org/iProfiles/ViewiProfile.asp?k=8k8fy01aj15137m | |
| 2002 | Aziza Baccouche | Nuclear Physics | Univ. of Maryland | AZIZA Productions, Inc. | ||
| 2002 | Alicia Uzzle | Nuclear and Applied Physics | Hampton Univ. | Apprentice School (Newport News VA) | ||
| 2003 | Laura Ariel Phillips | Astrophysics | Princeton | McGill (Canada) | Notre Dame | |
| 2003 | Tracee Jamison Hooks | Electrical Engineering | North Carolina A & T | Howard Univ. | NASA Goddard | |
| 2003 | Elaine Lalanne | Applied Physics | NJIT/Rutgers-Newark | Univ. of Maryland, Baltimore County | ||
| 2003 | Althea G. Bluiett | Physics | Hampton Univ. | Elizabeth Univ. | ||
| 2003 | Rene Baggott | Physics | Hampton Univ. | Hampton Univ. | ||
| 2004 | Lisa Dyson | Physics | MIT | CEO Kiverdi | ||
| 2004 | Vernessa Edwards | Physics-Optics/Lasers | Alabama A & M Univ. | Alabama A&M Univ. | ||
| 2004 | Adrienne Stiff-Roberts | Physics | Univ. of Michigan | Duke Univ. | ||
| 2004 | Aisha Fields | Optics | Alabama A & M Univ. | Hampton Univ. | West African Development Project | |
| 2004 | Nadya Mason | Physics | Stanford Univ. | Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | ||
| 2004 | Sophia Suarez | Condensed Matter Physics | City Univ. of New York | Brooklyn College | ||
| 2004 | Kim Lewis | Applied Physics | Univ. of Michigan | Rensselear Polytechnic Institute | ||
| 2004 | Kristina Woods | Physics | Stanford Univ. | CMU | ||
| 2005 | Maritza Tavarez-Brown | Astronomy | Univ. of Michigan | Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart | ||
| 2005 | Shannon Watson | Experimental Condensed Matter | Willam and Marry | NIST | ||
| 2006 | Kandice Tanner | Physics | UIUC | National Cancer Institute | ||
| 2006 | Shavesha Rutledge | Analytical Chemistry | American Univ | Alabama A&M Univ. | Cyfor Technology | |
| 2006 | Angelina Amadou | Physics | Howard Univ. | Univ. Abdou Moumouni, Niger | Howard Univ. | |
| 2006 | Ayana Holloway-Arce | Experimental High Energy Physics | Harvard | Duke Univ. | ||
| 2006 | Desiree Jangha | Nuclear and Radiological Physics-Health Physics | Georgia Tech | Hampton Univ. | AlantiCare | |
| 2006 | Andrea Sealy | Atmospheric Science | Howard Univ. | Jackson State Univ. | Caribbean Institute for Meterology and Hydrology | |
| 2007 | Tennille Presley | Biophysics | Ohio State Univ. | North Carolina A&T State Univ. | Winston Salem State Univ. | https://www.linkedin.com/in/tennille-presley-ph-d-3b3a1113 |
| 2007 | LaQuieta Huey | Physics | Alabama A&M | Grambling | NASA Marshall Space Flight Center | |
| 2007 | Jami M. Valentine | Condensed Matter Physics | Johns Hopkins Univ. | Florida A&M Univ. | U.S. Patent and Trademark Office | |
| 2007 | Marty Baylor | Physics | Univ. of Colorado Boulder | Kenyon College | Carleton College | |
| 2007 | Angela Osterman Meyer | Astronomy | Georgia State | Georgia Tech | Culver Academies | |
| 2008 | J Bianca Jackson | Applied Physics | Univ. of Michigan | Columbia Univ. | Univ. of Reading | |
| 2008 | Cecille Labuda | Physics-Acoustics | Univ. of Mississippi | Univ. of Mississippi | ||
| 2008 | Telana Jackson | Engineering Electrophysics | Morgan State Univ. | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center | ||
| 2009 | Taviare Hawkins | Physics | Syracuse Univ. | Univ. of Iowa in Iowa City | Univ. of Wisconsin La Crosse | |
| 2009 | Kelly Nash | Physics | UTSA | Dillard | UTSA | |
| 2009 | Delonia Wiggins | Physics | Florida A & M Univ. | Broward College | ||
| 2009 | Vanessa Cohen | Astronomy | Univ. of Maryland | Univ. of Missouri-St. Louis | Garrison Forest School | |
| 2009 | Tonia Venters | Astronomy and Astrophysics | Univ. of Chicago | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center | ||
| 2010 | Candice Etson | Biophysics | Harvard | Hunter College of CUNY | WesleyanåÊ | |
| 2010 | Jessica A Harris | Physics | Fisk University | Grambling State University | National Radio Astronomy Observatory | https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-harris-5b45a382/ |
| 2010 | Nia Imara | Astrophysics | UC Berkeley | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics | ||
| 2010 | Renata Afi Rawlings-Goss | Biophysics | Univ. of Michigan | Univ. of Pennsylvania School of Medicine | ||
| 2010 | Fana Mulu Moore | Physics | Alabama A & M Univ. | CSPAR Univ Alabama Huntsville | ||
| 2010 | Nantanette Craig | Physics | Florida A & M Univ. | NHMFL | ||
| 2010 | Chanda Prescod Weinstein | Theoretical Cosmology | Univ. of Waterloo | MIT | ||
| 2011 | K. Renee Horton | Material Science | Univ. of Alabama | Louisianna State Univ. | NASA Marshall Space Flight Center | |
| 2011 | Yvonne Edmonds | Physics | Stanford Univ. | McKesson | ||
| 2011 | Rachel McKinsey | Medical Physics | University of Wisconsin-Madison | Southern Univ. | e+CancerCare | https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-mckinsey-phd-78962717 |
| 2011 | Jennifer Blum | Physics | Univ. of Michigan | Columbia Univ. | United States Department of Defense | |
| 2011 | Monika Schleier-Smith | Physics | MIT | Harvard | Stanford | |
| 2011 | Chieze Ibeneche-Nnewihe | Physics | UT Austin | UT Austin | RA Capital | |
| 2011 | Adrienne Block | GeoPhysics | Columbia | Ohio State | Chevron | |
| 2011 | Jasmine D. Crenshaw | Mat Sci Eng-Biomaterials | Univ of Florida | North Carolina A & T State Univ. | HHMI | |
| 2012 | Nneka Williams | Structural Geology and Geophysics | Cal Tech | California Institute of Technology | Chevron | |
| 2012 | Taeyjuana Curry | Physics | Univ. of Michigan | Univ. of Maryland, Baltimore County | ||
| 2012 | Hadiyah Nicole Green | Physics | UAB | Alabama A&M Univ. | Tuskegee Univ. | |
| 2012 | Lauren Denkins-Taffe | Physics | Howard Univ. | Howard Univ. | Dept of Defense | |
| 2012 | Melissa Harrison Fortuna | Materials Science | Vanderbilt | Xavier | Intel | |
| 2012 | Trivia Frazier | Biomedical Physics | Tulane Univ. | Dillard Univ. | Dillard Univ. | |
| 2012 | Serena Eley | Physics | UIUC | California Institute of Technology | Los Alamos National Lab (Post doc) | |
| 2012 | Nicole Campbell | Applied Physics | Univ. of Michigan | UT Arlington | Raytheon Missile Systems | |
| 2013 | Cynthia Prudence | Applied math | Univ. of Rhode Island | Univ. of Rhode Island | Univ. of Rhode Island | |
| 2013 | Lauren Porter | Physics | US Santa Cruz | California Institute of Technology | Groupon | |
| 2013 | Lynnae Quick | Earth and Planetary Science | Johns Hopkins Univ. | North Carolina A&T State Univ. | NASA Goddard | |
| 2013 | Monique Walker | Physics | Howard Univ. | NASA Post-doctoral Fellow | ||
| 2014 | JessicaFreeman | Physics | Hampton Univ. | Hampton Univ. | Stratford | |
| 2014 | Fabienne Bastien | Physics/Astro | Vanderbilt | BS UMCP; MS Fisk | Pennsylvania State Univ. | |
| 2014 | Helen C. Jackson | Applied Physics (Nuclear) | Air Force Inst Tech | Tennessee State | Brookhaven and CEO of ElectroGenesis | |
| 2014 | Vera Loggins | Nuclear Physics | Wayne State Univ. | Univ. of Detroit Mercy | Post Doc U Michigan | |
| 2014 | Jedidah Isler | Astrophysics | Yale Univ. | Norfolk State Univ. | Post Doc Vanderbilt | |
| 2014 | Bernadette Cogswell | Physics | Vanderbilt | Florida State Univ. | Post Doc Princeton | |
| 2014 | Aomawa Shields | Astronomy and Astrobiology | Univ. of Washington | MIT | University of California, Irvine | http://faculty.sites.uci.edu/shields/ |
| 2015 | Julie Dumas | Physics | RPI | Vanderbilt | ||
| 2015 | Leslie Upton | Applied Physics | Univ. of Michigan | National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow | ||
| 2015 | Crystal Bray | Applied Physics | Stanford University | University of California, Berkeley | Tailored Brands | https://www.linkedin.com/in/crystal-bray-64b87392/ |
| 2015 | Eileen Gonzales | Physics | CUNY Graduate Center (PhD), San Francisco State (MS) | Michigan State | CUNY Graduate Center | http://linkedin.com/in/eileengonzales |
| 2015 | Staci Brown | Physics | Florida A & M Univ. | Florida A & M Univ. | Pacific Northwest Labs | |
| 2015 | Gayle Ratliff | Physics | Illinois Institute of Techology | Florida State Univ. | Adler Planetarium | |
| 2015 | Ivy Krystal Jones | Physics | Hampton Univ. | Tuskegee Univ. | Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory | |
| 2015 | Cacey Stephens | Physics | Univ. of Chicago | Southern Univ. | Post Doc Duke Univ. | |
| 2015 | Patrice Jackson Edwards | Physics | Florida A & M Univ. | |||
| 2015 | Myriam Telus | Geology and GeoPhysics | Univ. of Hawaii-Manoa | Univ of Chicago | Hawaii Institute for Geophysics and Planetology | |
| 2016 | Jasmine Oliver | Applied Physics | Univ. of South Florida | South Carolina State Univ. | UF Health Cancer Center (Orlando) | |
| 2016 | Sherita Moses | Applied Physics | Alabama A & M Univ. | Andrews University | Loyola Univ. Chicago | |
| 2016 | Whitney Ingram | Physics | Univ. of Georgia | |||
| 2016 | LaNell Williams | Physics | Harvard University | Wesleyan | https://www.linkedin.com/in/lanell-williams-64a01151/ | |
| 2017 | Mareena Robinson Snowden | Nuclear Science and Engineering | MIT | Florida A&M University | NNSA | https://www.linkedin.com/in/mareenarobinsonsnowden |
| 2018 | Jessica Nicole Esquivel | Physics | Syracuse University | Saint Mary’s University of San Antonio TX | Postdoctoral Research Associate at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory | http://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicaesquivelphd |
| Graduate Student | Amber Lenon | Physics | WVU | Syracuse | https://www.linkedin.com/in/amberlenon | |
| Graduate Student | Olivia McAuley | Physics | Bryn Mawr | UNC-Chapel Hill | ||
| Graduate Student | Charlezaetta E. Stokes | Physics | Howard Univ. | |||
| Graduate Student | Bianca Lane | Physics | JHU | Hampton Univ. | USPTO detail | https://www.linkedin.com/in/bianca-lane-b9199ba |
| Graduate Student | Erica Morgan-West | Physics | Florida A & M Univ. | |||
| Graduate Student | Kalisa Villafana | Nuclear Physics | Florida State | Florida A & M Univ. | ||
| Graduate Student | Katrina Miller | Physics | Univ. of Chicago | Duke | ||
| Graduate Student | Kelsea Gill | Physics | Smith College | University of Manchester | ||
| Graduate Student | Delilah Gates | Physics | Harvard | UMCP | https://umdphysics.umd.edu/academics/academic-spotlight/1043-meet-delilah-gates.html | |
| Graduate Student | Simone Brookes | Physics | NCSU | |||
| Graduate Student | Brooke Russell | Physics | Yale Univ. | Princeton | ||
| Graduate Student | Marion Greene | Biomedical Physics | East California Univ. | Hampton Univ. | ||
| Graduate Student | Bethlee M Lindor | Astronomy and Astrophysics | University of Washington | Princeton University | https://www.linkedin.com/in/bmlindor/ | |
| Graduate Student | Moiya McTier | Astrophysics | Harvard | Columbia Univ. | http://moiyamctier.weebly.com/ | |
| Graduate Student | Teresa Monsue | Physics | Vanderbilt |