By Decire Gonzalez KC'S BLOG • • • • • 0 Comments

African American Pioneers in Engineering You Should Know About

February is African American History Month. As such, it is the perfect opportunity to highlight the engineering achievements of African Americans who, although they have contended with racism, societal inequality, and discrimination, worked hard to overcome obstacles and accomplished great things in the field of engineering.

1. Walter Brathwaite, an American engineer who was born in Jamaica, was hired by Boeing in 1966. As Senior Engineer, he led the team that invented CAD systems for design of commercial Boeing aircrafts. Over the years, Brathwaite rose through the ranks, eventually becoming President of Boeing Africa. When he retired in 2003, he was the highest ranking African American executive of the company.

2. Howard P. Grant graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1948, making him the first African American to graduate from the Berkeley College of Engineering. That same year, Grant also became the first known Black member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. He subsequently became the first African American civil engineer for the City and County of San Francisco and the second African American civil engineer to be licensed by California. He worked for the San Francisco water department until 1984, and also held the position of president and treasurer of the California Society of Professional Engineers.

3. George Biddle Kelley graduated from Cornell University's College of Civil Engineering in 1908. He went on to become the first African American engineer registered in the State of New York. He was hired by the New York Engineering Department, where he worked on the Barge Canal, a collection of state waterways, during the 1920s.

4. Elijah McCoy was born in Canada in 1844 to runaway slaves who had escaped Kentucky through the Underground Railroad. At the age of 15, he moved to Edinburgh, Scotland for an apprenticeship. There he became certified in mechanical engineering. Upon leaving Scotland, he moved to Michigan, where his family was now living. After being unable to find engineering work in Michigan because of his race, he found work as a fireman with the Michigan Central Railroad. Part of his duties included oiling the steam engine parts. Soon, McCoy had invented an automatic engine lubricator, which meant that trains were no longer required to stop for lubrication, and lubrication could now occur while the trains were moving. As news of the invention spread, many inventors attempted to create their own version of the automatic lubricator. However, it was soon discovered that McCoy’s invention was superior. It is said that railway engineers began requesting “the real McCoy” lubricator. McCoy filed a total of almost 60 patents, including designs for an ironing board, a lawn sprinkler, and other machines.

 

By Decire Gonzalez KC'S BLOG • • • • • 0 Comments

Moon Landing Anniversary

Wednesday, July 20th, 2022, will mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing mission, which was successfully fulfilled by astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. The astronauts took off on July 16th, 1969 out of National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Kennedy Space Center in Florida and set foot on the moon on July 20th, 1969. To successfully achieve the Apollo 11 mission, it took hundreds of people working behind the scenes for years to fully execute this perfect mission, including NASA’s mechanical engineers crew, who also made it easier for other successful missions to take place later on. NASA’s mechanical engineers’ abilities to solve problems, design, and build were vital components that helped NASA organize, piece together, and successfully execute these missions. The mechanical engineer crew worked long hours and around the clock developing new technologies in addition to perfecting old ones. Some of the typical technology systems that NASA’s mechanical engineers developed and worked on were spacecrafts, satellites, and engines. In order to be part of NASA’s mechanical engineer crew, one must have a range of knowledge and skills in disciples such as aerospace, computers, and electronics to be able to work on various tasks and meet NASA’s strict criteria.

Since the first mission, NASA had several successful moon landings. Aside from Apollo 11, NASA launched the following Apollos:

  • Apollo 12 with astronauts Charles "Pete" Conrad and Alan Bean;
  • Apollo 14 with astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr. and Edgar D. Mitchell;
  • Apollo 15 with astronauts David R. Scott and James B. Irwin;
  • Apollo 16 with astronauts Charles M. Duke and John W. Young, who was also part of the Apollo 10 orbital; and
  • Apollo 17 with astronauts Harrison H. Schmitt and Eugene Cernan, who was also part of the Apollo 10 orbital.

NASA also had difficult missions, one happening during the third moon landing mission called Apollo 13. After launching the Apollo 13 spacecraft, the astronauts never made it to the moon because they experienced malfunction issues that caused them to lose oxygen. One of the oxygen tanks exploded and almost caused a near-disaster, but luckily the astronauts were able to loop around the moon and make a safe re-entry and landing on the Earth’s atmosphere. After studying what caused the failures on the Apollo 13 mission, NASA made multiple changes to the design of the spacecraft for increased safety, which allowed Apollo 14, 15, 16, and 17 missions to be successful.

If interested about NASA’s missions and mechanical engineering and would like more information, please visit https://www.nasa.gov/