Missing Faces

This project tries to draw attention to scientists from under-represented groups. And crowdsourcing images (and scientists) into Wikipedia is central. While a systematic approach is underway behind the scenes, some pages needing images to be brought into the public domain are being blogged and/or tweeted.

If you’re inspired to find someone who is not on this list, or have found an eligible public domain photo but need help to get it into Wikimedia, tell us about it – it all helps!

Jump here to see images that were on this list, but are missing no more – or where a dead end seems to have been found.

Got suggestions or leads for more? Check out How To Help for ways to do this via Wikipedia projects. Or leave a comment at this blog or tweet to @MissingSciFaces for us to scoop up.

Still missing

  • Gloria Hollister Anable (1900-1988), “explorer, scientist, conservationist”, Connecticut College, Columbia University, New York Zoologist Society (now Wildlife Conservation Society).
  • Matilene Spencer Berryman (1920-2003), African-American oceanographer and attorney, American University, University of Rhode Island, US Naval Oceanographic Office, University of the District of Columbia (see photos at Howard University).
  • Gloria Chisum (b 1930), an experimental psychologist who became an expert in the visual problems of pilots flying high-performance aircraft. (See her photo in the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.)
  • Inés Cifuentes (1954-2014), seismologist, US Geological Survey and Carnegie Academy for Science Education.
  • Etta Zuber Falconer (1933-2002), one of the first African-American women to get a PhD in mathematics. University of Wisconsin-Madison, Fisk University, Emory University, Spelman College, Norfolk State University (examples of photos of her).
  • A. Oveta Fuller (b 1955), a microbiologist, who co-found a B5 receptor for the herpes virus. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Michigan Medical School.
  • Betty Harris (b 1940), African-American chemistry of explosives, Southern University, University of Atlanta, University of New Mexico, Los Alamos National Laboratory (see photo at the National Academies of Science).
  • Ruby Puryear Hearn (b 1940), African-American biophysicist, Skidmore College, Yale University.
  • Mary Elliott Hill (1907-1969), likely the first African-American woman to gain a master’s degree in chemistry, Virginia State University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Kentucky.
  • Angie Turner King (1905-2004), perhaps the first African-American to earn a PhD in mathematics education – a key mentor to Katherine Johnson of Hidden Figures, and many others. Faculty of West Virginia State College, degrees from there, Cornell University, and the University of Pittsburgh.
  • Zelma Maine-Jackson, who doesn’t yet have a Wikipedia page – but she is more than due for one. Maine-Jackson is a hydrogeologist in Washington State.
  • Jennie Patrick (b 1949), African-American chemical engineer, Tuskegee University, MIT.
  • Mary Logan Reddick (1914-1966), African-American neuroembryologist, Radcliffe College (Harvard), Ford science fellowship, Cambridge University, Morehouse College, University of Atlanta.
  • Georgia Caldwell Smith (1909-1961), head of Spelman College’s department of mathematics from 1945 till her death at the age of 51 (just before her PhD was conferred), University of Kansas, University of Chicago, University of Pittsburgh.
  • Lonnie Standifer (b 1926), an entomologist, who became the first African-American director of the U.S. Bee Research Center.
  • Marguerite Williams (b 1895), the first African-American woman to gain a PhD in geology.
  • Unnamed women scientists, who won National Science Foundation (NSF) prizes and are in a public domain photo released by NSF: a tweet to NSF on 11 March – but no reply.

Missing No More

  • Aprille Ericsson (1963-) – aerospace engineer at NASA. First woman to earn a PhD in mechanical engineering at Howard University, first African-American woman to earn a PhD in engineering at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. She has been working on the Mars mission. Sourced by: Nature, in its story about MissingSciFaces.
  • Jesse Jarue Mark (b 1906, date of death unknown), often flagged as the first African-American woman to gain a PhD in botany, then-Iowa State College, Rockefeller Agriculture Fellow. Bryan Clark, an Iowa State University alum, contacted the University. “Plot twist” – ISU reported to Bryan Clark that JJ Mark was a man. The only available photo of Mark there is copyrighted.
  • Vivienne Malone-Mayes (1932-1995) – one of the first African-American women to get a PhD in mathematics and the first from the University of Texas, plus first African-American faculty member at Baylor. Sourced by: Evelyn Lamb and the Texas Collection at Baylor University.
  • Thyrsa Frazier Svager (1930-1999) – one of the first African-American Sourced by: The Dayton Foundation responded to a direct request on Twitter.