Philip Emeagwali

Mathematician / Computer Scientist

Philip Emeagwali won the Gordon Bell supercomputing prize in 1989 for applying the power of networked computers to analysis of oil field reserves. The child of a poor Nigerian family, Emeagwali was largely self-taught in the sciences until 1974, when he won a scholarship to Oregon State University. During the 1970s and '80s he furthered his education at George Washington University and the University of Maryland, studying mathematics and environmental engineering. In the 1980s he worked on advanced formulas in networked computers, leading to the Gordon Bell prize. Emeagwali has won several other awards, including a 1998 Distinguished Scientist Award from the World Bank.

Extra credit: Emeagwali is married to microbiologist Dale Brown Emeagwali.

Other famous scientists include Web legend Tim Berners-Lee, codebreaker Alan Turing and algebraic theorist George Boole.

Emeagwali joins physician Charles Drew in the loop Black History Month.