Greta McLain, per.5
Mae Carol Jemison has opened the way for both African Americans
and women in the fields of science and space travel. She has been an active
supporter of women’s rights. Jemison believes that women have to take full
responsibility for their lives and have to push to make their own opportunities.
She has found success by taking this view on life and striving for higher
education.
Jemison was born in 1956 in Decatur, AL. She was raised in Chicago.
She attended Stanford and graduated with a double major in chemical engineering
and Afro-American studies. Through out college she was actively involved
in dance and theater groups. After Stanford Jemison went to medical school.
While in medical school she volunteered in a Thai refugee camp. In 1979
Jemison went to Kenya where she did health studies on a grant from the
International Travelers Institute. Later she was a Peace Corps medical
officer in Sierra Leone and Liberia. While in the Peace Corps she worked
to help write curricula, taught volunteer personal and develop guidelines
on public health and safety for the volunteers. Jemison also developed
and worked on research projects . Some of the things she researched were
a Hepatitis B vaccine, Schistosomiasis and Rabies. Jemison did this research
while working with the National Institute of Health and Center for Disease
Control.
After finishing her biomedical training, Mae Jemison applied
for the NASA Space Shuttle program. IN 1987 she was one out of fifteen
applicants to get in out of the 200 who applied. She went through training
and worked for the first five years before her first flight. For Jemison’s
first flight she was assigned to the Endeavour on Mission STS-47, from
September 12, 1992 until September 20, 1992. While in space she conducted
experiments with weightlessness on tissue growth and the development of
semiconductor materials. One of her experiments was to test whether or
not motion sickness in space could be alleviated by the use of the biofeedback
technique; the experiment was successful. Jemison also investigated the
loss of calcium in bones while in space and the effects of
weightlessness on fertilization and embryologic development of frogs.
Mae Jemison left the Space Program in 1993 to found a company.
The Jemison Group, as the company was called, was created to
research, develop and market advanced technologies. Currently one of the
company’s projects is to establish a space-based telecommunication system
to facilitate health care delivery in developing and third world countries.
Jemison is also a teaching fellow at Dartmouth College.
Mae Carol Jemison was the first woman of color in the world to
travel in space. After her first flight in space she said that she hoped
that it would “enhance American society’s appreciation of both women and
members of minority groups.” IN her lectures she encourages kids to follow
their dreams, not anyone else’s. Her motto is “ don’t be limited by others’
limited imaginations.” Jemison still is an active participant in Women’s
Rights issues and puts a lot of emphasis on education. She also supports
involvement , and encourages youth to participate in what is going on in
the world around them. Due to her amazing achievements she was recently
honored by having a public school in Michigan named after her. Mae Carol
Jemison hopes that people will follow her example, strive to push the boundaries
and reach for the stars.
-Bibliography-
Bailey, Martha J., American Women in Science. ABC-CLIO, Inc.
1998, Santa Barbara, CA.
Sammons, Vivian Ovelton, Blacks in Science and Medicine. Hemisphere
Publishing, Com. 1990, New York.
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