Well now you have it. It's time for the Way Black History Fact. And today's Way Black History Factor is sponsored by Underground Beach Club from the Streets to the Beach. For the latest in beachwhere visit Underground Beach Club dot com and Q. I know that you really like this story, so why don't you take it this time?
The Way Black History Fact from Britannica dot com. Now some of us are old enough to remember these very very large books from Britannica, the Encyclopedia Britannica, a selection of hardbound you know, books that we would use as children. Shout out to Britannica for this story and for the books that my mom still has at my house to this day, even with us having Google. So from Britannica
dot com. Valerie Thomas born February eighth, nineteen forty three in Baltimore, Maryland, American is scientists and inventor who, while working at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration we referred to as NASA, invented a way to transmit three dimensional images or holograms that appeared to be real. In addition, she helped to develop processing software to convert scientific data
captured by satellites into information that scientists could use. From early age, Thomas was interested in electronics, mathematics, and physics, despite the fact that girls were not encouraged to study these subjects and in some cases not allowed to study those subjects. Moreover, because she was African American in a racially segregated society, she had fewer educational options and opportunities
than other students, namely white students. Nevertheless, she was academically successful in high school and attended Morgan State College now Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland in HBCU in nineteen sixty four, she graduated with a bachelor's degree in physics. Thomas subsequently began working as a data analyst at NASA.
One of her early roles was analyzing data from the Orbiting Geo Geophysical Observatory I'm Sorry, a series of scientific satellites that the United States launched in the nineteen sixties. In nineteen seventies, Thomas helped develop the image processing system for NASA's Landsat, a program involving unscrewed scientific satellites designed to collect information about Earth's natural resources. The satellites carried
various types of cameras, including those with infrared sensors. Thomas served as a leader of the Large Area Crop Inventory Experiment, a program that research and developed ways to monitor wheat yields around the world using lansat images. In nineteen seventy six, Thomas became intrigued by three D illusions after viewing a demonstration in which a light bulb seemed to stay lit
even after being removed from a lamp. The illusion was created by means of a concave mirror, reflecting a second light bulb and experimenting, and she soon invented illusion transmitter, for which she received a patent in nineteen eighty. The transmission system uses a video recorder to take pictures of a floating image in front of a concave mirror. The video image is set to set to a second image, which projects the image in front of a second concave mirror.
The process creates the optical illusion of a three D image. NASA subsequently used the technology in some of its satellites and applications. In two thousand and four, Thomas received a doctor written Educational Leadership from the University of Delaware. Throughout her life, she encouraged young people especially African Americans and girls,
to pursue science education. She was an active STEM organization organizer I'm Sorry, and involved herself with organizations such as the Women in Science and Engineering Shades of Blue, which focuses on aviation aerospace, and also worked as a substitute teacher. Is still alive at eighty one years old. I think we should reach out to her.