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Dr. Shirley A. Jackson, one of the world’s leading scientists, endured racism, sexism and segregation during her journey to becoming the first Black woman to earn a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Jackson was born August 5, 1946 in Washington, D.C. Jackson’s parents encouraged their daughter’s love of the sciences and made education a priority.
The family endured Jim Crow segregation and racism, with Jackson excelling at the top of her class at Roosevelt High School. Entering MIT in 1964, she was one of less than two dozen Black students entering the elite school and the only to study theoretical physics. During her time at MIT, Jackson was shunned by white classmates and often mistaken for a low-wage worker at the school.
In an interview, the plain-speaking Jackson shared tales of how racism in Boston was so bad during the heights of the Civil Rights Movement that she was spit on and shot at by white people.
Despite this, Jackson remained a superb student determined to earn her undergraduate degree. She remained at MIT for her doctorate program, mostly to inspire other Black students to attend the school. In 1973, she earned her historic distinction by earning a Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics. After earning her doctorate, Jackson’s research focused on subatomic particles and she worked at several top physics laboratories in the United States and Europe.
Jackson became a leading voice of theoretical physics, and was a notable lecturer and visiting scientists for such institutions such as the Aspen Center for Physics. In 1995, then-President Bill Clinton named Jackson to serve as the Chairperson of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). She was the first Black person and woman to hold that position.
Four years later, she became the 18th and current president of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She is one of the highest-paid university presidents in the country. In interviews, Jackson never uses the barriers she’s faced while on her educational and professional path as an excuse to work less. In fact, she appears to have used those harsh moments as a motivating tool to expand her professional and personal horizons.
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