Mae Jemison is not exactly a famous name. But she was the first black woman in outer space. Think about how tough you have to be for that.
Mae Jemison graduated from Stanford, then got a medical degree from Cornell. Six years later she joined NASA. During those six years she goofed off as a doctor in Los Angeles and a Peace Corps medical officer in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
She became the first black woman in space in 1992. She spent 8 days out there.
After she left NASA, Mae Jemison founded The Jemison Group. I have struggled to find out precisely what they do. She’s an advocate of science in schools and she started a science camp for kids, so I’m sure she’s been working hard in that realm.
She’s also been a spokeswoman/consultant for Bayer’s Making Science Make Sense, a program that aims to make 100 million people learn enough to be able to read a science article and make sense of it (beyond “we’re doomed”).
Here’s what Bayer has to say about The Jemison Group:
Started after she left NASA, The Jemison Group also explores and develops stand-alone science and technology programs and companies. BioSentient Corporation, a medical technology devices and services company focused on improving health and human performance through physiologic awareness and self-regulation is such a company. Jemison is guiding the company in the design, development and marketing of leading-edge, patented ambulatory equipment that provides wireless, real-time, real-life multi-parameter physiologic monitoring and the means to control one’s responses to their environment and stimuli.
I don’t get it, so I’ll focus on the fact that Mae Jemison must be something special. She spent 8 days in outer space, after all.
For more profiles of famous achievers, visit Who2’s Black History Month Biographies.
Photos from this Mae Jemison Gallery.