BIOGRAPHY OF MAE JEMISON

Biography of Mae Jemison

Biography of Mae Jemison

Introduction

Astronaut Mae Jemison was the first African American woman to travel into space as part of the crew of Space Shuttle Endeavor in September 1992. However, Jemison's life has also been full of achievements on Earth. She finished her high school at the age of 16, and received a scholarship from Stanford University and graduated in chemical engineering. She also met the requirements for a degree in African studies and African Americans. She then studied medicine at Cornell University in 1981 and joined the Peace Corps. She worked as a medical supervisor from 1983 to 1985 in Sierra Leone and Liberia, two countries in West Africa. After working at NASA from 1987 to 1993, she founded The Jemison Group Inc., a firm that designed the ALAFIYA, a satellite telecommunications system that seeks to improve medical care in developing nations. She is also a Professor of Environmental Studies Program at Dartmouth College, where she directs the Jemison Institute for Technological Advancement of Developing Countries.

Thesis Statement

This paper will examine the achievements and efforts made by the famous African American astronaut, Mae Jemison.

Biography

Mae Jemison was born on October 17, 1956 in the U.S. city of Decatur. Her father worked as a technical inspector in the charity, and her mother was a teacher of English and mathematics in elementary school in most of her career. Her family moved to Chicago, when Jemison was three years old, because there were more opportunities to give her a good education. According to Mae, being a child, she considered going to space is as common as going to work. Then, she began her fascination with science and medicine.

Mae graduated from high school in 1973, and entered Stanford University at the age of 16 years. In her memoirs, she had to face some discrimination based on skin color and sex, but she successfully graduated from university in 1977, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering and Bachelor of Arts in African American studies.

She continued her education and in 1981, received her medical degree from Cornell Medical College. After one year of internship at Medical Center, University of Southern California, she later became a general practitioner. During college, she made a trip to Cuba, Kenya and Thailand, providing first aid to people living there. After graduating from medical practice, Jemison joined the Peace Corps and served as a physician there from 1983 to 1985, responsible for health care volunteers corps operating in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Two characters, one real and one fictional, encouraged her to apply for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This was Sally Ride, first American woman in space be, and Lieutenant Uhura, the African American communications officer in the Star Trek television series that Mae loved when she was young (Blue, 2003).

When Mae Carol Jemison, as a child, watching a program on Television about the flights of Gemini and Apollo spacecraft, she knew that one day she would go into ...