110 HRES 966 EH: Honoring African-American inventors, past U.S. House of Representatives 2008-02-14 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

IV 110th CONGRESS 2d Session H. RES. 966 In the House of Representatives, U. S., February 14, 2008 RESOLUTION Honoring African-American inventors, past and present, for their leadership, courage, and significant contributions to our national competitiveness.

Whereas African-American and other minority scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians have made significant achievements in our national research enterprise and inspired future generations; Whereas the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) lifts up African-American researchers of the past and present, including special contributors named in this Resolution; Whereas Garrett Augustus Morgan made outstanding contributions to public safety; Whereas firefighters in the early 1900s wore the safety helmets and gas masks that he invented, and for which he was awarded a gold medal at the Second International Exposition of Safety and Sanitation in New York in 1914; Whereas 2 years later, he himself used the mask to rescue men trapped by a gas explosion in a tunnel being constructed under Lake Erie; Whereas following the disaster which took 21 lives, the City of Cleveland honored him with a gold medal for his heroic efforts; Whereas in 1923, he received a patent for a traffic signal to regulate vehicle movement in city areas, and this device was a direct precursor to the modern traffic light in use today; Whereas Ernest Everett Just was a trailblazer in the fields of cell biology and zoology; Whereas his research and papers on marine biology were so well received in 1915 that Ernest Everett Just was awarded the first Spingarn Medal by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People at age 32; Whereas Ernest Everett Just dedicated years of research toward the study of cells and cell structures in order to understand and find cures for cellular irregularities and diseases such as sickle cell anemia and cancer and became one of the most respected scientists in his field; Whereas racial bigotry in the United States caused much of his work and his achievements to go unrewarded; Whereas in other countries, he was treated as a pioneer and was recruited to work with Russian scientists and invited to be a guest researcher at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biology, the world's greatest scientific research laboratory at the time; Whereas he was welcomed at the Naples Zoological Station in Italy and the Sorbonne in France, where he conducted research and was regarded as one of the most outstanding zoologists of his time; Whereas Archibald Alphonso Alexander excelled in design and construction engineering; Whereas, employed by the Marsh Engineering Company, he designed the Tidal Basin bridge in Washington, DC; Whereas after studying bridge design in London, Archibald Alphonso Alexander and George Higbee formed a general contracting business that focused on bridge design; Whereas his designs include Washington, DC's Whitehurst Freeway, the heating plant and power station at the University of Iowa, and an airfield in Tuskegee, Alabama; Whereas he went on to become the first Republican territorial governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands; Whereas David Nelson Crosthwait Jr. made significant and practical contributions to the engineering of heating and cooling systems; Whereas he held numerous patents relating to heat transfer, ventilation, and air conditioning, the areas in which he was considered an expert; Whereas David Nelson Crosthwait Jr. served as director of research laboratories for C. A. Dunham Company in Marshalltown, Iowa, where he served as technical advisor from 1930 to 1970; Whereas he designed the heating systems for Radio City Music Hall and Rockefeller Center in New York City and authored texts and guides on heating and cooling with water; Whereas during the 1920s and 1930s, he invented an improved boiler, a new thermostat control, and a new differential vacuum pump to improve the heating systems in larger buildings; and Whereas African-American innovators continue to improve the daily lives of Americans through their inventions and stir the creative spirit of future generations: Now, therefore, be it

That the United States House of Representatives— (1)recognizes and appreciates the significant achievements to our national research enterprise made by African-American and other minority scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians; (2)honors and extends its appreciation and gratitude toward all African-American inventors, for the significant and honorable research and educational contributions that improve the lives of all citizens and that have gone unacknowledged too long; and (3)looks for opportunities to make sure that the creativity and contribution of minority scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians can be expressed through research, development, standardization, and innovation.

Lorraine C. Miller, Clerk.