Oluseyi, Hakeem Muata

Impact on the world

His patented technologies are used in computer chips manufactured worldwide; his research on mass and energy transfer in the Sun's atmosphere advanced solar physics, and his investigative journalism overturned two decades of disinformation about NASA's James Webb Space Telescope naming controversy.

Life & background

Born James Edward Plummer Jr. and raised in some of the country's most difficult neighborhoods, including New Orleans' 9th Ward and Watts, Los Angeles, Oluseyi served in the U.S. Navy before earning his physics and mathematics degrees at Tougaloo College and his physics PhD at Stanford, where he was mentored by solar physicist Arthur B.C. Walker Jr. He went on to develop space science technologies underlying components used in computer chips worldwide, publish over 100 scientific papers, serve as NASA's Space Science education manager, and become president of the National Society of Black Physicists and later CEO of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. In 2021, his independent investigation found no evidence supporting allegations against former NASA administrator James Webb, a finding later confirmed by NASA's own internal review.

Sources

1. American Physical Society; Leading Authorities speaker profile