Mae Jemison

Mae Jemison

Country:	United States
Organization:	NASA
selected on	June 5, 1987 ( 12th NASA Group )
Calls:	1 space flight
Begin:	September 12, 1992
Landing:	20th September 1992
Time in space:	7d 22h 30min
retired on	March 8, 1993
Space flights
STS-47 (1992)

Mae Carol Jemison (born October 17, 1956 in Decatur , Alabama ) is an American doctor and former astronaut . Her flight on the Endeavor (space shuttle) on September 12, 1992 made her the first African American woman in space . After studying medicine and briefly working as a doctor in the USA, she worked in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone and Liberia from 1983 to 1985. In 1993 she left NASA. She founded a society with the aim of integrating modern technologies into the life of developing countries. Jemison is also committed to the science education of young people in the USA.

Life

Jemison was born in Decatur on October 17, 1956. Her mother Dorothy was a teacher and her father Charlie was a facility manager. The family soon moved to Chicago , where Mae grew up. At the age of 16, she began her studies at Stanford University and graduated in 1977 with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and a Bachelor of Arts in African and African American Studies . At the end of her subsequent study at the medical school of Cornell University , she earned a doctorate in 1981 and completed her practical training time at Los Angeles County / University of Southern California Medical Center the following year.

Act

1983–1985: Member of the Peace Corps for Liberia and Sierra Leone

During her time in Africa she was responsible for the logistics for the medical care of the Peace Corps and the American Embassy. She also carried out research on hepatitis B , rabies and schistosomiasis on behalf of government agencies .

1987–1993: Worked for NASA

In June 1987, Jemison was selected by NASA as an astronaut aspirant. In the following years she also helped with the launch preparations at the Kennedy Space Center and developed software at the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL).

On September 12, 1992, Jemison started as a mission specialist with the space shuttle Endeavor for the tenth Spacelab mission, the STS-47 . On board she was involved in experiments that were supposed to investigate the influence of microgravity . 20 experiments were carried out on living things such as members of the crew, koi carp, fruit flies, seeds or frogs. For example, it was tested whether hornets had the ability to build honeycombs under weightlessness . The result was negative.

The aim of 24 experiments was to expand our knowledge of how microgravity affects man-made materials, for example glass, ceramics or metallic alloys .

Jemison became the first African American woman to fly into space on this mission .

According to NASA

After leaving NASA in March 1993, Jemison was Professor of Environmental Studies at Dartmouth College in Hanover , New Hampshire from 1995 to 2002 . There she headed an institute with the goal of bringing advanced technologies to developing countries, the Jemison Institute for Advancing Technology in Developing Countries . That same year she founded the Jemison group in Houston , which pursues similar goals. For example, this group developed the satellite-based telecommunications system Alpha, which can be used to transmit medical information to African doctors. She also set up international science student camps for young people between the ages of 12 and 16 under the name "The Earth We Share", which are intended to improve basic science education.

At the beginning of 2012 Mae Jemison took over the management of the 100-Year Starship project , a basic research project for interstellar space flights .

Honors (selection)

Jemison has received numerous honors from the fields of education and space travel for her services:

Several universities, including the renowned Princeton University , awarded her an honorary doctorate .

A number of educational institutions were named after her, including the Mae J. Jemison Academy , an alternative school in Detroit .

In 1993 she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame .

Fonts

Find Where the Wind Goes: Moments from My Life. Scholastic Press, New York 2001, ISBN 978-0-439-13196-4 (autobiography).

literature

Charles W. Carey Jr.: African Americans in Science. An Encyclopedia of People and Progress . ABC Clio Santa Barbara, California, Denver, Colorado, Oxford, England 2008, Volume I, ISBN 978-1-85109-998-6 , pp. 126-127.
Ray Spangenburg, Diane Kit Moser, Steven Otfinoski: African Americans in Science, Math, and Invention. (A to Z of African Americans). Facts on File, New York 2011 (revised), ISBN 978-0-8160-8331-2 .
Wini Warren: Black Women Scientists in the United States (Race, Gender, and Science). Indiana University Press, Bloomington 1999, ISBN 978-0-253-33603-3 , pp. 137-140.

Trivia

As a Star Trek fan, Jemison had an appearance in 1993 in Starship Enterprise: The Next Century as Lieutenant Palmer in the 24th episode of the 6th season with the title Riker: 2 =? (Original title: Second Chances ).
She was a technical advisor and host for the television magazine Welt der Wunder .
Jemison has long been interested in African music and modern jazz. She has produced several dance shows.

Web links

Commons : Mae Jemison - collection of images, videos and audio files

Short biography of Mae Jemison at spacefacts.de
NASA biography of Mae Jemison (English; PDF)
Biography of Mae Jemison in the Encyclopedia Astronautica (English)
The Earth We Share: http://www.drmae.com/3-3
Mae Jemison in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

^ Charles W. Carey Jr.: African Americans in Science. An Encyclopedia of People and Progress . ABC Clio Santa Barbara, California, Denver, Colorado, Oxford, England 2008, Volume I, ISBN 978-1-85109-998-6 , p. 126.
^ Charles W. Carey Jr.: African Americans in Science. An Encyclopedia of People and Progress . ABC Clio Santa Barbara, California, Denver, Colorado, Oxford, England 2008, Volume I, ISBN 978-1-85109-998-6 , p. 126
^ Charles W. Carey Jr.: African Americans in Science. An Encyclopedia of People and Progress . ABC Clio Santa Barbara, California, Denver, Colorado, Oxford, England 2008, Volume I, ISBN 978-1-85109-998-6 , p. 127
↑ 100 year Starship Project has a new leader phys.org , accessed June 20, 2012.
^ Warren E. Leary: Woman in the News; A Determined Breaker of Boundaries - Mae Carol Jemison , New York Times, September 13, 1992, accessed August 30, 2014.

personal data
SURNAME	Jemison, Mae
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Jemison, Mae Carol (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American astronaut
DATE OF BIRTH	17th October 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH	Decatur , Alabama

[1] Charles W. Carey Jr.: African Americans in Science. An Encyclopedia of People and Progress . ABC Clio Santa Barbara, California, Denver, Colorado, Oxford, England 2008, Volume I, ISBN 978-1-85109-998-6 , p. 126.

[2] Charles W. Carey Jr.: African Americans in Science. An Encyclopedia of People and Progress . ABC Clio Santa Barbara, California, Denver, Colorado, Oxford, England 2008, Volume I, ISBN 978-1-85109-998-6 , p. 126

[3] Charles W. Carey Jr.: African Americans in Science. An Encyclopedia of People and Progress . ABC Clio Santa Barbara, California, Denver, Colorado, Oxford, England 2008, Volume I, ISBN 978-1-85109-998-6 , p. 127

[4] 100 year Starship Project has a new leader phys.org , accessed June 20, 2012.

[5] Warren E. Leary: Woman in the News; A Determined Breaker of Boundaries - Mae Carol Jemison , New York Times, September 13, 1992, accessed August 30, 2014.