An African Giant Valerie Thomas (age 78 years) is the NASA physicist who invented 3D Movies and Television. She is an African American scientist and inventor. She invented the illusion transmitter, for which she received a patent in 1980.
She has obtained numerous awards including the Goddard Space Flight Center Award of Merit and NASA’s Equal Opportunity Medal. She mentored countless students Mathematics Aerospace Research and Technology Inc program.
In 1964, Valerie began working for NASA as a data analyst. She developed real-time computer data systems to support satellite operations control centers (1964–1970) and oversaw the creation of the Landsat program (1970–1981), becoming an international expert in Landsat data products. Her participation in this program expanded upon the works of other NASA scientists in the pursuit of being able to visualize Earth from space.
In 1980, Valerie received a patent for an illusion transmitter. The device produces optical illusion images via two concave mirrors. Unlike flat mirrors, which produce images that appear to be inside, or behind the mirror, concave mirrors create images that appear to be real, or in front of the mirror itself. This technology was subsequently adopted by NASA and has since been adapted for use in surgery as well as the production of television and video screens.
Throughout her career, Valerie held high-level positions at NASA including heading the Large Area Crop Inventory Experiment (LACIE) collaboration between NASA, NOAA, and USDA in 1974, serving as assistant program manager for Landsat/Nimbus (1975–1976), managing the NSSDC Computer Facility (1985), managing the Space Physics Analysis Network project (1986–1990), and serving as associate chief of the Space Science Data Operations Office.
Valerie was a clever little child who developed a keen interest in science as early as age 6. She would then go on to excel in her mathematics and science courses at Morgan State University. She graduated with the highest honors in 1964 with a degree in physics and went on to work for NASA until her retirement in 1995.
