Reva Kay Williams is an American astrophysicist. Williams is the first
Black American woman to receive a
Ph.D.
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 ...
in theoretical
astrophysics and the first person to successfully work out the
Penrose process
The Penrose process (also called Penrose mechanism) is theorised by Sir Roger Penrose as a means whereby energy can be extracted from a rotating black hole. The process takes advantage of the ergosphere --- a region of spacetime around the black ...
using Einstein's
Theory of Relativity
The theory of relativity usually encompasses two interrelated theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity, proposed and published in 1905 and 1915, respectively. Special relativity applies to all physical phenomena in ...
to extract energy from black holes.
Early life and education
Williams was born in
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...
and moved to Chicago at the age of 6. She received an
A.A. in liberal arts from
Malcolm X College
Malcolm X College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago, is a two-year college located on the Near West Side of Chicago, Illinois. It was founded as Crane Junior College in 1911 and was the first of the City Colleges. Crane ceased operations at th ...
in 1977 and a
B.A.
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
in astronomy from
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
in 1980. Williams completed both a
M.A.
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
and a Ph.D. at
Indiana University Bloomington
Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, or simply Indiana) is a public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the flagship campus of Indiana University and, with over 40,000 students, its largest ca ...
, and when she completed her degree in 1991 she became the first Black American woman to receive a doctorate in astrophysics.
Penrose process
With the publication of her Ph.D. thesis in 1991, Williams became the first person to work out the
Penrose process
The Penrose process (also called Penrose mechanism) is theorised by Sir Roger Penrose as a means whereby energy can be extracted from a rotating black hole. The process takes advantage of the ergosphere --- a region of spacetime around the black ...
of black holes. In 1995, Williams published a paper in
Physical Review of research from her Ph.D. thesis. Her calculations explained that
black hole jets are emitted as escaping tornado-like coils of high energy photons and relativistic electrons, and when
black holes drag spacetime into rotation near their cores, they may also produce uneven jets.
In April 2004, Williams published a letter titled ''A Word from a Black Female Relativistic Astrophysicist: Setting the Record Straight on Black Holes'' addressing her experience with breakthrough black hole physics and not receiving appropriate citations and others taking credit for her work.
Postdoctoral career
![Black Hole Outflows From Centaurus A](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Black_Hole_Outflows_From_Centaurus_A.jpg)
Williams was awarded a
National Research Council National Research Council may refer to:
* National Research Council (Canada), sponsoring research and development
* National Research Council (Italy), scientific and technological research, Rome
* National Research Council (United States), part of ...
Ford postdoctoral minority fellowship and was a postdoctoral associate at the
University of Florida
The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
from 1993-1996. In January 1997, she worked as a visiting assistant professor of physics at
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (also known as North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina A&T, N.C. A&T, or simply A&T) is a public, historically black land-grant research university in Greensboro, North Caro ...
(North Carolina A&T), and in 1998, she became an associate professor of astrophysics and Director of the Center for Women and Science at
Bennett College
Bennett College is a private historically black liberal arts college for women in Greensboro, North Carolina. It was founded in 1873 as a normal school to educate freedmen and train both men and women as teachers. Originally coed, in 1926 it ...
, remaining in that position until 2001.
In 2000, Williams received a grant to work with Robert M. Hjellming in
Aspen, Colorado
Aspen is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,004 at the 2020 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Moun ...
and
Socorro, New Mexico studying
microquasar
A microquasar, the smaller version of a quasar, is a compact region surrounding a stellar black hole with a mass several times that of its companion star. The matter being pulled from the companion star forms an accretion disk around the black hole ...
s. At that time, she was the only Black American female astrophysicist in the United States, and as of 2004 was one of the few women in the world researching black holes.
In 2009, she was awarded a
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...
grant to "investigate the jet structure and energy generation of quasars and other active galactic nuclei (AGNs), microquasars, and gamma-ray bursters, all of which are believed to be powered by rotating (Kerr) black holes."
Since 2009, Williams has been a research assistant professor at the
University of Toledo
The University of Toledo (UToledo or UT) is a public research university in Toledo, Ohio. It is the northernmost campus of the University System of Ohio. The university also operates a Health Science campus, which includes the University of ...
. Her continuing research interests are relativistic astrophysics,
general relativity
General relativity, also known as the general theory of relativity and Einstein's theory of gravity, is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and is the current description of gravitation in modern physics ...
,
cosmology
Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosopher ...
, and
extragalactic astronomy.
Williams gave a plenary speech at the astrobiology conference, AbSciCon, in the spring of 2022, organized by
American Geophysical Union
The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, atmospheric, ocean, hydrologic, space, and planetary scientists and enthusiasts that according to their website includes 130,000 people (not members). AGU's a ...
and
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...
.
Selected publications
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Reva
Women astrophysicists
African-American women scientists
University of Florida faculty
University of Toledo faculty
Indiana University Bloomington alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
American astrophysicists
People from Memphis, Tennessee
Scientists from Tennessee
Malcolm X College alumni
Northwestern University alumni
Bennett College faculty
American women academics
21st-century African-American people
21st-century African-American women