African Science Heroes

March 9th 2011

My apologies for not blogging frequently and regularly but I have spent the last month filming in Malawi and working on the African Science Heroes posters. Posters are done – please feel free to print, copy, email, forward, comment etc…I would really like them to be distributed as far and wide as possible and by that I mean, a young boy attending a school in a remote village in Congo should know that they are opportunities out there waiting for him to explore. One of the scientists I interviewed said something quite powerful – ‘you are what you know’, so if you all know is goat herding then that is all you will be, so these posters are meant to motivate young children to the opportunities in science regardless of their background. The posters only feature a few of the scientists that are African Science Heroes.  I gathered 102 names and trimmed them down to 32 African scientists that I have considered African Science Heroes and  am writing separate chapters on. Meanwhile I am hard at work putting the film together which I hope to share with you soon and then the book. I certainly gathered from the scientists that I interviewed that reading about the lives of great scientists is inspirational. Special thanks to the Centre of African Studies, University of Cambridge and Cambridge Science Festival and those who supported the project in many many many ways, I am forever indebted to you all!

Overview of the project

Prof. Francis Allotey (Ghana), professor of mathematical physics

Prof. Gebisa Ejeta (Ethiopia), geneticist and plant biologist,

Prof. Nelson Sewankambo (Uganda), professor of medicine works in HIV and AIDS research and medical education

Philip Emeagwali (Nigeria), mathematician and computer engineer

Prof. Rose Leke (Cameroon), professor of immunology and parasitology

Dr. Thomas Odhiambo (Kenya), insect biologist