Background

Mae Carol Jemison was born on October 17, 1956, in Decatur, Alabama, United States. She is the youngest child of Charlie Jemison, a roofer, carpenter, and maintenance supervisor for a charity organization, and Dorothy Green, an elementary school teacher. Her sister, Ada Jemison Bullock, became a child psychiatrist, and her brother, Charles Jemison, is a real estate broker. The Jemison family moved to Chicago, Illinois, when Jemison was three years old to take advantage of better educational opportunities, and it is that city that she calls her hometown. Throughout her early school years, Jemison's parents were supportive and encouraging of her talents and abilities, and she spent a considerable amount of time in her school library reading about all aspects of science, especially astronomy.

Education

During her time at Morgan Park High School, Mae Jemison became convinced she wanted to pursue a career in biomedical engineering, and when she graduated in 1973 as a consistent honor student, she entered Stanford University on a National Achievement Scholarship. At Stanford, Jemison pursued a dual major and in 1977 received a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering and a Bachelor of Arts in African and Afro-American Studies. As she had been in high school, Jemison was very involved in extracurricular activities including dance and theater productions, and served as head of the Black Student Union. Upon graduation, she entered Cornell University Medical College to work toward a medical degree. During her years there, she found time to expand her horizons by visiting and studying in Cuba and Kenya and working at a Cambodian refugee camp in Thailand. She obtained her Doctor of Medicine in 1981.

Career

Shortly after her graduation, Mae Jemison became an intern at the Los Angeles County Medical Center and then went on to practice general medicine. Fluent in Russian, Japanese, and Swahili, Jemison joined the Peace Corps in 1983 and served as a medical officer for two years in Africa.

After working with the Peace Corps, Jemison opened a private practice as a doctor. However, once Sally Ride became the first American woman in space in 1983, Jemison decided to apply to the astronaut program at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). She applied in 1985, but after the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986, NASA took a break from accepting new people. However, Jemison applied again in 1987 and was one of the 15 people chosen out of over 2,000 applications. She was selected for NASA Astronaut Group 12, which was the first group chosen after the Challenger explosion. After being selected, Jemison trained with NASA and worked on projects at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory. She received her first mission on September 28, 1989, when she was selected to join the STS-47 crew as a Mission Specialist. On September 12, 1992, Jemison and six other astronauts went into space on the space shuttle Endeavor. This voyage made Jemison the first African American woman in space. The team made 127 orbits around the Earth and returned to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on September 20, 1992.

Jemison left NASA in 1993 after serving as an astronaut for six years in total. She started The Jemison Group, a consulting company that encourages science, technology, and social change. She also began teaching environmental studies at Dartmouth College and directed the Jemison Institute for Advancing Technology in Developing Countries. After hearing that she was a fan of the Star Trek television show, actor LeVar Burton asked Jemison to appear in an episode. Jemison agreed and became the first real astronaut to be on an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. She played Lieutenant Palmer in the episode, "Second Chances." In 1994, Jemison created an international space camp for students 12-16 years old called The Earth We Share (TEWS). She also created a nonprofit organization called the Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence. Jemison later accepted a position as the Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University in 1999. She went on to write her first book in 2001, Find Where the Wind Goes, which was a children’s book about her life.

Jemison is leading the 100 Year Starship project through the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). This project works to make sure human space travel to another star is possible within the next 100 years.

Achievements

• Mae Carol Jemison was the first African American woman to be selected for NASA's astronaut training program, was also the first African American woman to travel in space. She formed the Jemison Group, to develop and market advanced technologies. In recognition of her accomplishments, Jemison received the 1988 Essence Science and Technology Award, the Ebony Black Achievement Award in 1992, and a Montgomery Fellowship from Dartmouth College in 1993, and was named Gamma Sigma Gamma Woman of the Year in 1990. Also in 1992, an alternative public school in Detroit, Michigan-the Mae C. Jemison Academy-was named after her. In 2002 Jemison was inducted into the Texas Women's Hall of Fame and into the International Space Hall of Fame in 2004. She received Rachel Carson Award from the National Audubon Society in 2005 and Buzz Aldrin Space Pioneer Award in 2017.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Sisterhood Is Forever: The Women's Anthology for a New Millennium

    (Sisterhood Is Forever - with over 60 original essays Morg...)

    2004
  • The 100 Year Starship

    (What would we find if we made it all the way to another s...)

    2013
  • Journey Through Our Solar System

    (Our solar system is made up of eight planets orbiting aro...)

    2013
  • Discovering New Planets

    (Astronomers have been working for decades to locate and i...)

    2013
  • Exploring Our Sun

    (The sun provides us with the light and energy we need to ...)

    2013
  • Find Where the Wind Goes: Moments from My Life

    (Mae Jemison made history as the first woman of color in s...)

    2001

Religion

Mae Jemison is not public about her religious views.

Politics

Mae Jemison's political views are not definitely clear but she supports managing climate change and women's rights activism.

Views

Following her historic flight, Jemison noted that society should recognize how much both women and members of other minority groups can contribute if given the opportunity. Mae Jemison founded her own company, the Jemison Group, which seeks to encourage a love of science in students and bring advanced technology to schools around the world. She is a strong advocate for science and established an international science camp for high school students.

Quotations: "Never be limited by other people's limited imaginations... If you adopt their attitudes, then the possibility won't exist because you'll have already shut it out ... You can hear other people's wisdom, but you've got to re-evaluate the world for yourself."

"I left NASA because I'm very interested in how social sciences interact with technologies."

"My parents were the best scientists I knew because they were always asking questions."

Membership

Jemison is a member of the American Medical Association, the American Chemical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and served on the Board of Directors of the World Sickle Cell Foundation.

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  American Medical Association , United States

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  American Chemical Society , United States

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  American Association for the Advancement of Science , United States

• World Sickle Cell Foundation

Personality

In her spare time, Mae Jemison went on to choreograph and produce several shows of modern jazz and African dance.

Interests

• dancing, theatre

• Politicians

  Martin Luther King Jr

• Music & Bands

  jazz

Connections

Mae Jemison is not married and has no children.

Father:

Charlie Jemison

Mother:

Dorothy Green

Sister:

Ada Jemison Bullock

Brother:

Charles Jemison

Friend:

LeVar Burton

References

• Mae Jemison: Awesome Astronaut
  2012
• Mae C. Jemison: 1st Black Female Astronaut
  1992
• African-American Astronauts: Guion S. Bluford, Jr., Charles F. Bolden, Jr., Frederick D. Gregory, Bernard A. Harris, Jr., Mae C. Jemison
  1998
• Mae Among the Stars
  2018
• Mae Jemison
  2015
• Mae Jemison: Trailblazing Astronaut, Doctor, and Teacher
  2016
• Astronaut Mae Jemison
  2016