Buyisiwe Sondezi is a South African physicist. She was the first woman in Africa to obtain a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

(PhD) in experimental physics of highly correlated matter when she graduated at

University of Johannesburg The University of Johannesburg (UJ) is a public university located in Johannesburg, South Africa. The University of Johannesburg came into existence on 1 January 2005 as the result of a merger between the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU), the ...

on 23 September 2014.

Academic life

Buyisiwe is the first born child and a sister of ten siblings. She grew up in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

and learnt science at a rural school. The school had no laboratory. "I had to picture how things are, because the school had no lab. I was just told if you mix 'one' and 'two' you get a 'three'. We relied on what the textbook said," says Dr Sondezi. She saw laboratory equipment for the first time while studying towards her degree at

Vista University Vista University, South Africa was established in 1981 by the apartheid government to ensure that urban black South Africans seeking tertiary education would be accommodated within the townships rather than on campuses reserved for other populatio ...

in Soweto, which is now part of the University of Johannesburg. Buyisiwe graduated with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

(BSc) in Physics, Chemistry and Statistics. Buyisiwe worked briefly as a teacher at

Sandringham High School, Johannesburg Sandringham High School is a South African high school in Sandringham, a north-eastern suburb of Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city i ...

in 2003. In 2005, she lectured Fundamental Physics class at

Rand Afrikaans University The Rand Afrikaans University (RAU) was a prominent South African institution of higher education and research that served the greater Johannesburg area and surroundings from 1967 to 2004. It has since merged with the Technikon Witwatersrand ...

and demonstrated the second year Physics Practicals at the same university.''Departmental Staff: University of Johannesburg'' in

accessed a
Dr Buyisiwe Sondezi
on 21 October 2014. She holds a Honours and master's degrees in Physics, researching properties of solar cells. She started her PhD in the same direction, however, she switched the topic of her doctorate to highly correlated matter in experimental physics in 2007.

South African Nuclear Energy Corporation The South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) was established as a public company by the Republic of South Africa Nuclear Energy Act in 1999 and is wholly owned by the State. The name is correctly indicated above, although the sequence of ...

(NECSA) employed her as a

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosoph ...

in the Radiation Utilisation Division between 2005 and 2007. In 2007, she started working for University of Johannesburg as a lecturer. In 2009, she won the Department of Science and Technology's women in Science award and was nominated as one of Cosmopolitan magazine's "Fun and Fearless Women". In 2012, she was named one of

Mail & Guardian The ''Mail & Guardian'' is a South African weekly newspaper and website, published by M&G Media in Johannesburg, South Africa. It focuses on political analysis, investigative reporting, Southern African news, local arts, music and popular cult ...

's 200 Young South Africans, in the Science and Technology category. Buyisiwe made news headlines as the first woman in Africa to earn a PhD in her field in October 2014. She has written publications in collaboration with various physicists based around the globe. In her spare time, she tutors Mathematics and Science to pupils.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sondezi, Buyisiwe (Buyi) Living people South African physicists Academic staff of the University of Johannesburg South African inventors Year of birth missing (living people)