Dr thomas mensah biography channel
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The African History's Post
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He has been described as one of the greatest minds of the 20th century. He was a pioneer in developing the fibre optics on which the internet is so dependent and on advancing nano technology. He also worked on producing the first laser-guided missile systems among scores of other discoveries. Profile by Baffour Ankomah.
October is Black History Month in Britain, a month during which the great and good of Global Africa are celebrated. One person whose name has come up deserves his place on the list through sheer merit: Dr Thomas O. Mensah, 71, a Ghanaian-American chemical engineer and inventor who contributed immensely to the development of laser-guided missiles for the US military.
Dr Mensah is an expert in fibre optics and nano technology. But for his work, fibre optics would not be what it is today.
The massive contributions of this son of Global Africa have greatly changed the world, but you will not find his name in neon lights, unlike those of his White colleagues.
In fact, most Africans and people of African descent worldwide have not even heard about him. But his work has made it possible for the world to enjoy its current high level of digital communication, and even helped the US military to assert its supremacy in the field of laser-guided missiles.
Known as o
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Thomas Mensah (engineer)
Ghanaian-American chemical engineer (1949/1950 – 2024)
Thomas Owusu Mensah (1950 – 27 March 2024) was a Ghanaian-Americanchemical engineer and inventor who contributed to the development of fiber optic manufacturing and nanotechnology.[2] He had 14 patents, and was inducted into the US National Academy of Inventors in 2015.[3] In 2017, Mensah served as editor-in-chief of the textbook Nanotechnology Commercialization, published by John Wiley & Sons.[4]
Early life and education
[edit]Thomas Mensah was born in Kumasi, Ghana, in 1950.[1] His father, J. K. Mensah, was a merchant who shipped cocoa products to chocolate manufacturers in France.[5] Mensah was fluent in French, and won the National French competition held in Accra, Ghana, both at the Ordinary Level (1968) and Advanced Level (1970).[1]
Mensah attended Adisadel College in Cape Coast, Ghana, and completed his undergraduate studies in chemical engineering at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi. He then received a French government fellowship to study at Montpellier University in France. While there, he took part in a program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and received a certificate