List of African educators, scientists and scholars

This is a list of African scholars who were born or active on the African continent.

North Africa edit

Egypt edit

  • Imhotep fl. (2667–2611 BC), Egyptian polymath
  • Muhammad Abduh (1849–1905), Egyptian jurist, religious scholar and liberal reformer, regarded as the founder of Islamic Modernism.
  • Abū Kāmil Shujā ibn Aslam (c. 850 – c. 930)
  • Sameera Moussa (1917–1952), Egyptian nuclear scientist.
  • Al-Jahiz (781–868/869), Afro-Arab scholar of East African descent.
  • Arius (c. 250/256–336), Christian priest from Alexandria, Egypt.
  • Al-Suyuti (c. 1445–1505), Egyptian writer, religious scholar, juristic expert and teacher.
  • Ahmed Zewail (1946–2016), Egyptian-American scientist, awarded the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for laser studies in femtochemistry.
  • Mahmud Ahmad Hamdi al-Falaki (1815–1885), Egyptian cartographer, teacher, Minister of Public Instruction.
  • Ismail Mustafa al-Falaki (1825–1901), Egyptian astronomer and mathematician.

Carthage edit

  • Saint Cyprian (c. 210 – September 14, 258), bishop of Carthage and early Christian writer.

Tunisia edit

  • Aziza Baccouche (1976–2021), American physicist and filmmaker born and raised in Tunisia
  • Hayet Omri (1981–), Tunisian politician and inventor

Other edit

Algeria edit

Morocco edit

  • Rachid Yazami (1953–), French Moroccan scientist best known for his research on lithium ion batteries.

Sudanese edit

East Africa edit

Ethiopian edit

Somali edit

Eritrean edit

  • Haile Debas (1937–), Eritrean who achieved national recognition as a gastrointestinal investigator and made original contributions to the physiology, biochemistry, and pathophysiology of gastrointestinal peptide hormones.

Kenyan edit

Ugandan edit

Tanzanian edit

West Africa edit

Cameroonian edit

Congo edit

Gambian edit

  • Tumani Corrah is a Gambian clinician whose fields of research include tuberculosis, HIV and malaria.

Ghanaian edit

  • Alexander Anim-Mensah, Ghanaian-American chemical engineer, inventor, and author. He is known for the contributions towards the field of membrane science and technology.

Malian edit

  • Mohammed Bagayogo (1523–1593), eminent scholar from Timbuktu, Mali.
  • Cheick Modibo Diarra (1952–), Malian-born aerospace engineer who contributed to several NASA missions such as Mars Path Finder, the Galileo spacecraft, and the Mars Observer.
  • Ahmad Baba (1556–1627), medieval West African writer, scholar, and political provocateur.

Sierra Leonean edit

Nigerian edit

Senegalese edit

  • Cheikh Anta Diop (1923–1986), Senegalese historian, anthropologist, physicist and politician.

Southern Africa edit

South African edit

  • Christiaan Barnard (1922–2001), South African cardiac surgeon, who performed the world's first successful human-to-human heart transplant.
  • Sydney Brenner (1927–2019), South African biologist, who won the 2002 Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine.
  • Allan McLeod Cormack (1924–1998), South African-born American physicist, who won the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
  • Mulalo Doyoyo (born 1970), South African professor, engineer and inventor.
  • Trefor Jenkins (born 1932), human geneticist from South Africa, noted for his work on DNA.
  • Aaron Klug (1926–2018), Lithuanian-born British chemist and biophysicist, who won the 1982 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He moved to South Africa at the age of two and studied at the University of Witwatersrand and the University of Cape Town.
  • Tshilidzi Marwala (born 1971), South African scientist and inventor.
  • Thebe Medupe (born 1973), South African astrophysicist and founding director of Astronomy Africa.
  • Azwinndini Muronga, professor of physics and dean of science.
  • Philiswa Nomngongo, professor of Analytical Chemistry and the South African Research Chair (SARChI) in nanotechnology for water.
  • Himla Soodyall (born 1963), South African human geneticist, known for genetic research into the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa.
  • Andries Van Aarde (born 1951), professor of theology at University of Pretoria.
  • Quarraisha Abdool Karim, South African HIV researcher.
  • Elon Musk (born 1971), CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, Inc.

Tanzanian edit

  • Felix A. Chami, archaeologist and university professor from Tanzania.
  • Erasto B. Mpemba (born 1950), Tanzanian scientist and physicist who discovered the eponymous Mpemba effect, a paradoxical phenomenon in which hot water freezes faster than cold water under certain conditions.

Zambian edit

African diaspora edit

References edit

  1. ^ "This Congolese Doctor Discovered Ebola But Never Got Credit For It — Until Now". NPR.org. Retrieved 2019-11-05.
  2. ^ Corti D, Misasi J, Mulangu S, Stanley DA, Kanekiyo M, Wollen S, et al. (March 2016). "Protective monotherapy against lethal Ebola virus infection by a potently neutralizing antibody". Science. 351 (6279): 1339–42. Bibcode:2016Sci...351.1339C. doi:10.1126/science.aad5224. PMID 26917593. S2CID 206643628.