Bouchet's Legacy - A Teaching on Light Passing Through Resistant Media

Edward Alexander Bouchet was born in 1852 in New Haven, Connecticut, the youngest of four children in one of only three Black families in the city. He attended public schools when Black education was...

Edward Alexander Bouchet was born in 1852 in New Haven, Connecticut, the youngest of four children in one of only three Black families in the city.

He attended public schools when Black education was considered unnecessary by the dominant culture. He excelled. He entered Hopkins Grammar School as its first Black student. He excelled.

He entered Yale in 1870 and graduated sixth in a class of 124. He completed his PhD in physics in 1876 - the first African American to earn a PhD in physics from an American university.

Then the resistant medium closed around him. Despite qualifications exceeding many white scientists who had distinguished academic careers, Bouchet could not secure a university position.