Anna Coble

Anna Coble
Died (2009-03-03)March 3, 2009[1]
Education Physics (1973)
Alma mater

Howard University

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign

Anna J. Coble was an American biophysicist. She was the first black woman to earn a doctorate in biophysics, and the first black woman to be hired at Howard University.

Education

Coble was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she became interested in mathematics and physics.[2] Her father was a teacher at St. Augustine's University. Coble studied mathematics at Howard University, earning a bachelor's in 1958 and a master's in 1961.[3] After graduating she taught physics at North Carolina A&T State University for four years.[3] Coble moved to University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign for her postgraduate studies, where she became an advocate for minority students and women.[3] She completed her PhD in 1973 under the supervision of Floyd Dunn.[3][4] She spent two years at Washington University in St. Louis studying the impact of high-intensity ultrasound on frogs.[3]

Research and career

Coble moved back to Howard University, where she was the first black woman to be hired to the faculty.[3] She spent an entire summer finding houses for 200 black graduate students, forfeiting her own research.[3] During her time at Howard University there was a 30 - 40% cut to federal research grants.[3] She was part of the Writing Across the Curriculum faculty.[5] She was eventually promoted to Associate Professor.[6]

She was part of the formation of the National Society of Black Physicists.[7] She served on the board of the Ionia Whipper Home, a shelter for neglected teenage girls.[3] She developed educational resources for the National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council.[8]

She worked with the American Association for the Advancement of Science and American Association of Physics Teachers to support underrepresented groups in science.[3] One project, the AAAS Black Church Project, took hands-on science to young people in the Washington Area.[3] She passed away in 2009.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "Molecular & Integrative Physiology - Newsletter December 2009" (PDF). University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  2. 1 2 Sisters in science : conversations with black women scientists about race, gender, and their passion for science. Jordan, Diann, 1958-. West Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue University Press. 2007. ISBN 9781557534453. OCLC 137292168.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Narratives of the Double Bind: Intersectionality in Life Stories of Women of Color in Physics, Astrophysics and Astronomy - Research Library". www.terc.edu. Retrieved 2018-05-04.
  4. ↑ A., Nakireru, Omoviekovwa. The physics queen : authorized biography of Dr. Elvira Louvenia Williams. [Bloomington, IN]. ISBN 9781441538574. OCLC 755708994.
  5. ↑ "WAC Faculty". www.cetla.howard.edu. Retrieved 2018-05-04.
  6. ↑ "Department of Physics and Astronomy". www.physics1.howard.edu. Retrieved 2018-05-04.
  7. ↑ "The Genesis of the National Society of Black Physicists" (PDF). AIP. Retrieved 2018-05-04.
  8. ↑ "Resources for Teaching Elementary School Science". National Science Resources Center. Retrieved 2018-05-04.
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