Have you heard of the Mpemba effect?

Next in my series of science and Africa I want to talk about an African who has a scientific term named after him - Erasto Mpemba from Tanzania. Still a pupil at school he says he discovered that hot water freezes faster than cold water. This has since then been called the "Mpemba effect". Scientists are still debating wether this is actually happening or not (read more here on why this is an issue) but Erasto Mpemba is one of few Africans who can say they have given name to a scientific term.

A Moroccan who helpted to find the Higgs boson particle

As I have mentioned earlier I will sometimes talk about scientists from the African continent. This time I would like to mention Rajaa Cherkaoui El Moiursli, a Moroccan woman who in 2015 was awarded A Loreal Unesco for Women in Science Award. She gor it for her part in finding the Higgs boson particle, so it´s no small contribution to science.

What exactly did Rajaa Cherkaoui El Moursli do? She "contributed to the simulation and construction of the electromagnetic calorimeter in the ATLAS detector".

ATLAS is "one of two general-purpose detectors at the Large Hadron Collider" at Cern.


Click here for a video about her scientific work.

A smart technology invented in Namibia

Today I will talk about a technology originating in Namibia. Scarcity of water can be a problem in some countries. But in Namibia a technology has been invented to turn sewage water into drinkable water - and they have been doing it for fifty years. You can say it´s a smart way to recycle water. This is done in the Goreangab facility outside the capital Windhoek. The recycling of water is made possible thanks to bacteria.

"Everything is done biologically, by the organisms", says process engineer Justina Haihambo to pri.org.

Antibiotics made some Africans feel better over 2000 years ago

I found this story from 2010 about a scientific discovery that suggests some Africans may have known about antibiotics more than 2000 years ago, a long time before the modern discovery. Analysis from  mummies from the ancient Nubians, who lived south of ancient Egypt in modern day Sudan, have shown that they drank beer which contained tetracycline, a type of antibiotics. The question is if the Nubians knew what they were doing?

"Given the amount of tetracycline there, they had to know what they were doing. They may not have known what tetracycline was, but they certainly knew something was making them feel better", biologival anthropologist George Armelagos told the site www.abc.net.au.

The Nigerian with a milestone in robotics

Another great science mind from Africa is Nigerian-born Silas Adekunle who is making a name for himself in the world of technology. He is the man behind the first intelligent gaming robot named Mekamon. Read more here: https://thisisafrica.me/nigeria-adekunle-highest-paid-robotics-engineer/

African born historian makes history in the UK

I have said earlier that I want to talk about scientists and social scientists from Africa who makes an impact in the world. One such person is historian Olivette Otele who was born i Cameroon. She has now become Britain´s first black female professor in history, after receiving a professorship at Bath Spa University.

According to the site OkeyAfrica, her new book "Afro-Europeans - a short history" will be the first academic text to take a deep look into the history of people of African descent in Europe.

She is a specialist in colonial and postcolonial studies and in the video below you can see her opinions on how these subjects are adressed in today´s world.

One of the most famous women from antiquity

The city Alexandria in northern Egypt was once home to the famous library where a lot of the known knowledge of the mediterranean world was gathered. This was really the centre for knowledge and science in the ancient world. Not many women are famous from this period, but one such celebrity is the philosopher and mathematician Hypatia.

The documentary below talks both about the scientific advancements in Alexandria, the melting pot that ancient Alexandria was and about who Hypatia really was.

Ibn Khaldun - the revolutionary historian

It´s always nice to talk about what scientific contributions that has been done by people from the African continent. I have earlier mentioned Edmond Albius, an African slave who invented a way to pollinate the vanilla in a more effective way, which really helped to launch the big vanilla industry.

But moving away from the natural science to social sciences, we find a man called Ibn Khaldun. He was born in 1332 in Tunis in North Africa and lived until 1406. His works has had a great impact on sociology, economics and history. He brougt forward new ideas such as that the environment can shape how people act. One of the reasons for this conclusion is his studies with the bedouins in the desert.

If you want to learn more about Ibn Khaldun, listen to this BBC radio show on Youtube in the clip below.