Imes, Elmer Samuel

Impact on the world

Became the second African American to earn a physics PhD in the United States, and his precise measurements of infrared absorption spectra provided early experimental confirmation of quantum theory predictions about molecular rotation.

Life & background

A physicist, Imes earned his PhD in physics in 1918, becoming the second African American (after Edward Bouchet) to hold a physics doctorate in the United States. His precise experimental measurements of infrared absorption spectra in molecules provided some of the first experimental evidence supporting quantum theory's predictions about molecular rotational behavior.

Sources

1. AIP Black and African American Physicists Research Guide; A Black Life in Physics (American Physical Society)