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Black and STEMbruary, Day 12
Feb. 12th, 2025 08:24 pm12. Bettye Washington Greene, PhD
Dr. Washington Greene was among the first black women to obtain a PhD in chemistry. She was also the first to work at Dow Chemical, where she worked in the Designed Polymers division.
Her PhD thesis was on light scattering, a method we still use today to determine the size of small particles. If you're working with nanoparticles, you're using light scattering. Dr. Washington died in 1995, but she has a commemorative plaque at Wayne State University, and the reach of her research goes far beyond her years.
Dr. Washington Greene was among the first black women to obtain a PhD in chemistry. She was also the first to work at Dow Chemical, where she worked in the Designed Polymers division.
Her PhD thesis was on light scattering, a method we still use today to determine the size of small particles. If you're working with nanoparticles, you're using light scattering. Dr. Washington died in 1995, but she has a commemorative plaque at Wayne State University, and the reach of her research goes far beyond her years.
