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Inventory to the Percy Lavon Julian Family Papers
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Percy Lavon Julian
Family Papers |
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Shirley Ann Jackson was born in Washington, D.C., on August 5, 1946, the second daughter of Beatrice and George Jackson. The strong belief in education held by her parents and the special interest of her father in her early science projects helped to encourage her in the direction of a career in science. The excellent teachers in her elementary schools and the accelerated program in mathematics and science, along with outstanding mathematics teachers at Roosevelt High School, prepared her for the rigors of college. She was graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1964 as valedictorian. Miss Jackson entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the fall of 1964 and began her academic career with a major in physics. During her undergraduate years she was a volunteer at the Boston City Hospital and was also a tutor at the Roxbury (Boston) Y. M. C. A. She became a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority and in 1966-1968 served as president of the Iota Chapter. A generation ahead of her Dr. Anna Julian had become a member of Delta Sigma Theta and was its fourth national president. In June of 1968 she received the S. B. degree (Bachelor of Science) in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She elected to continue her graduate studies at her Alma Mater and did research in theoretical elementary particle physics under the direction of James Young, the first tenured black professor in the physics department. During these years she was the recipient of scholarships and fellowships from the Ford Foundation, Martin Marietta Corporation, The National Science Foundation, Prince Hall Masons, and Vermont Avenue Baptist Church of Washington, D.C. In her graduate studies she constantly enlarged her abilities in physics by summer studies at the International School of Subnuclear Physics; "Ettore Majorana," Erice, Sicily (1973); the Theoretical Physics Institute, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado (1971); and in 1978 a term at Ecole d'ete de Physique Theorique, Les Honches, France. Shirley Ann Jackson received the Ph.D. in Physics, Elementary Particle Theory, awarded in September, 1973, and became the first black woman to earn a Ph.D. from MIT. Since receiving the doctorate she has advanced steadily in her profession. Within the next several years after receiving the Ph.D., she was a research associate at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois; The European Organization for Nuclear Research in Geneva, Switzerland; and the Aspen Center for Physics, Aspen, Colorado. In 1976 she became a member of the technical staff in theoretical physics research at the AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ. In 1991 she was appointed a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ where she continues her teaching and research today. Shirley Jackson has received many honors, including the Thomas Alva Edison Science Award of the State of New Jersey; elected a fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Fellow in the American Physical Society, and several honorary doctorates. In 1981 she was honored as one of the exceptional black scientists in the CIBA-GEIGY Poster Series of the company of the same name. Percy Julian was also a member of this distinguished group of scientists. Dr. Jackson continues to be called for important work in high places today. In February of this year she was appointed to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) by President Clinton. In this position she will be one of the commissioner who oversee America's nuclear reactors and the use of nuclear material. She is the first black member of the NRC. During her twenty-two years of research and management experience, Dr. Jackson has made important theoretical contributions to several areas of physics, which include the three-body scattering problem, charge density waves in layered compounds, polaranic aspects of electrons in the surface of liquid helium films, and the optical and electronic properties of semiconductor strained layer superlattices. Dr. Jackson is married and the mother of one child. |
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