Barbara A. Williams

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    The First Black Woman PhD Astronomer: Barbara A. Williams — the sky is not the limit

    Throughout all areas of science, there are unrepresented people. An outstanding astronomer who is unrepresented is Barbara A. Williams. She is an American radio astronomer who was the first African- American woman to earn a Ph.D. in astronomy. Williams started her education when earning a bachelor’s degree in physics at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She then went on to continue her education in her graduate studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. It was here that she earned her Master’s and Ph.D. in the field of radio astronomy in 1981. 

    After her studies and getting her Ph.D., Williams spent a year as a NASA- American Society for Engineering Education member at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Her research mainly focused on radio astronomy and studies of galaxies. She would use radio waves to study groups of galaxies with compact cores. After her time in research, she became an associate professor at the University of Delaware in 1986. She felt powerful that there needed to be something fixed in the system for more women to obtain their PhDs concentrated on physics. She then studied educational research to do this and make a change.

 1981: Barbara Williams becomes the first Black woman to get a PhD… | astrobites


    Barbara A. Williams was a pivotal person in astronomy and is a role model for those who wish to obtain a Ph.D. in astronomy. She was able to pave the way and inspire many young African- American women and other women. For this, she was named the Outstanding Young Woman of America in 1986. There are so many more scientists in astronomy that are very unrepresented. It is important to remember those people who paved the way for more scientists.

Universe Awareness - Barbara A. Williams was the first African-American woman to achieve a PhD in Astronomy. She began her studies at the University of North Carolina and proceeded to the University

Works Cited

Barbara Williams, First African American Woman Astrophysicist, http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/physics/williams_barbaraa.html.

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