Americans in Energy Making Black History Today

Black History Month typically celebrates African Americans’ contributions in the distant past. In the energy field, this means pioneering scientists like Granville Woods (the “Black Thomas Edison”), Garrett Morgan (inventor of traffic lights), Lewis Latimer (inventor of light bulbs and air conditioning), and Katherine Johnson (NASA mathematician).

Yet, living engineers and innovators are making Black History every day. EEPower salutes three contemporary African Americans whose notable achievements are advancing the field.

Black Americans in energy (l to r): Bill Magwood, Hazel O’Leary, Kétévi Assamagan. Adapted from images used courtesy of Canva, Idaho National Laboratory, and Wikimedia Commons

Hazel O’Leary, U.S. Energy Secretary

Hazel O’Leary, the first woman U.S. Energy Secretary, advocated for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and an end to nuclear testing. She served from 1933 to 1997 under the Clinton Administration.

Hazel O’Leary discusses plutonium use during the Cold War. Video used courtesy of AP

President Gerald Ford appointed O’Leary, an attorney and former prosecutor, to the Federal Energy Administration. She also served under Jimmy Carter before leaving for the private sector in 1989. In 1989, she became the Executive Vice President for Environmental and Public Affairs for the Minnesota Northern States Power Company. President Bill Clinton nominated her for U.S. Energy Secretary in 1993.

Hazel O’Leary in 2013. Image used courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

During her tenure, O’Leary created an Openness Advisory Panel, which oversaw the declassification of documents about radiation effects on American citizens.

After leaving government, O’Leary served as president of Fisk University, her alma mater.

Bill Magwood, Director General, Nuclear Energy Agency

William D. Magwood IV has served as director of the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) since 2014. The NEA is part of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris. The NEA advises its 34 member nations on nuclear energy use and sustainability.

Bill Magwood discusses nuclear energy benefits. Video used courtesy of Nuclear4Climate

Magood began his career in energy as a scientist and manager at Westinghouse Electric and Edison Electric Institute. From 1998 to 2005, he was director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s civilian nuclear energy program, where he established the Idaho National Laboratory and advocated for nuclear technology education.

Bill Magwood. Image used courtesy of NEA

From 2005 to 2010, Magwood was an independent consultant on energy and technology. In 2010, President Barack Obama appointed him a commissioner to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Kétévi Assamagan, Discovering the Higgs Boson

A physicist at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, Kétévi Assamagan’s work contributed to the 2012 discovery of the Higgs boson. As part of CERN’s Atlas Collaboration, he continues to study data from the Large Hadron Collider at the CERN.

Kétévi Assamagan discusses dark matter. Video used courtesy of Brookhaven National Laboratory

Born in Gabon and raised in Togo, Assamagan earned a PhD in nuclear and particle physics from the University of Virginia in 1995. He joined Brookhaven in 2001.

Kétévi Assamagan. Image used courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Assamagan is a co-founder of the African School of Physics and has been active in promoting physics education.