Mae Jemison

Mae Jemison dreamed of traveling to space, so she studied science, earning a degree in chemical engineering at Stanford University and a medical degree from Cornell University. In 1992 she was the science mission specialist on the space shuttle Endeavor, becoming the first African American woman in outer space. On the Endeavor, Jemison studied the chemistry and biology of bone growth in microgravity. Today, Jemison is an entrepreneur who applies space-program technology to everyday problems.

In addition to conducting biochemical experiments in space, Jemison starred on an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation and was named one of People magazine's 50 most beautiful people in the world in 1993.

About Her Life

To call Mae Jemison multitalented is an understatement. Born in Decatur, Alabama, in 1956 and raised in Chicago, she studied chemical engineering as well as African and Afro-American studies as an undergraduate at Stanford University. She went on to medical school at Cornell University. She put her knowledge of medicine and her knowledge of Africa to good use soon after she graduated from Cornell, working as a medical officer with the U.S. Peace Corps in the West African nations of Liberia and Sierra Leone.

When she returned to the United States, Jemison practiced medicine for a while but ultimately decided to pursue her childhood dream of becoming an astronaut. She applied to NASA's astronaut training program in 1986 and was accepted. In 1992 she flew aboard the space shuttle Endeavour on mission STS-47, making her the first African American woman in outer space. In orbit she conducted medical, chemical, and biological experiments, including studies of how chicken embryos develop in near-zero gravity or microgravity and of motion sickness in astronauts. She also did materials science experiments that explored how near-weightless conditions can be used to make better alloys.

Her space research with the most immediate application was her study of what happens to bones in near-zero gravity. After long periods in space, an astronaut’s bones can become very weak due to near-weightless conditions—when no stress is placed on the bones by the body’s weight, the body doesn't need to put a lot of nutrients and energy into keeping its bones strong. The weakness is caused by a loss of calcium phosphate, a key component of bones. Jemison's experiments revealed how and why this happens and could help us learn how to prevent it. Her work could also help in the development of treatments for osteoporosis, an earthly disease that makes people’s bones lose calcium phosphate and become weak. This disease is common among elderly women, but it can also strike young people with eating disorders like anorexia.

Jemison later left NASA to go into business. Her company, the Jemison Group, seeks to find real-world applications for high-tech breakthroughs like the ones developed for the space program. Having seen firsthand the poverty that exists in developing nations, she is especially interested in finding inexpensive high-tech ways to help, such as portable, solar-powered, electric generators that can bring electricity to parts of the world where no electric power is available. She is also working on ways to use satellite communications to improve health care in West Africa.