Thomas O. Mensah (born around 1950) is a

Ghanaian Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

-American chemical engineer and inventor, who contributed to the development of

fiber optic An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means t ...

manufacturing and nanotechnology. He has 14 patents, and was inducted into the US National Academy of Inventors in 2015. In 2017, Dr. Mensah served as Editor-in-Chief of the textbook ''Nanotechnology Commercialization'', published by

John Wiley & Sons John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American multinational publishing company founded in 1807 that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company produces books, journals, and encyclopedias, ...

Early life and education

Thomas Mensah was born in

Kumasi Kumasi (historically spelled Comassie or Coomassie, usually spelled Kumase in Twi) is a city in the Ashanti Region, and is among the largest metropolitan areas in Ghana. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region near Lake Bosomtwe, and is t ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

. His father, J.K. Mensah, was a merchant who shipped cocoa products to chocolate manufacturers in France. Mensah was fluent in French, and won the National French competition in Ghana, both at the

Ordinary Level The O-Level (Ordinary Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education. It was introduced in place of the School Certificate in 1951 as part of an educational reform alongside the more in-depth ...

s (1968) and

Advanced Level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

s (1970) in Accra Ghana. Mensah attended Adisadel College in Cape Coast Ghana and completed his undergraduate studies in

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

at the

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) is a public University of Ghana that focuses on science and technology. The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology is the public university established in the country, as well a ...

. He then received a French government fellowship to study at

Montpellier University The University of Montpellier (french: Université de Montpellier) is a public research university located in Montpellier, in south-east of France. Established in 1220, the University of Montpellier is one of the oldest universities in the wor ...

in France. While there, he took part in a program at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(MIT) and received a certificate in Modeling and Simulation of Chemical Processes from MIT in 1977. A year later, he graduated with his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Montpelier University.

Career

Mensah worked at Air Products and Chemicals from 1980 to 1983. In 1983, Mensah joined

Corning Glass Works Corning Incorporated is an American multinational technology company that specializes in specialty glass, ceramics, and related materials and technologies including advanced optics, primarily for industrial and scientific applications. The co ...

, working in fiber optics research at Sullivan Park, New York. Researchers at Corning had previously developed optical fiber with loss below the crucial attenuation limit of 20 dB/km, but the fibers could not be manufactured at rates higher than 2 meters per second. Mensah improved the manufacturing process through a series of innovations, raising the speed of manufacture to 20 meters per second by 1985. This made the cost of optical fiber comparable to traditional copper cables. Mensah received the Corning Glass Works Individual Outstanding Contributor Award for this work in 1985. His work ultimately raised speed of manufacture above 50 m/s. Mensah moved to

Bell laboratories Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...

in 1986, where he led a program to develop the first laser guided weapons for the US Department of Defense guided missile program. This program enabled the development of missiles that travel at the speed of sound (Mach 1). Mensah is president and CEO of Georgia Aerospace Systems, which manufactures nano composite structures used in missiles and aircraft for the US Department of Defense. On February 24, 2017, CBS Television News ran a segment for Black History Month featuring Dr. Mensah titled "The Engineer who Revolutionized the Internet". Mensah also serves on the board of a number of organizations including the AIChE National Board of Directors (1987–1990) and is a current Trustee of the Board of AIChE Foundation, and member of the board for the NASA Space Grant Consortium at Georgia Institute of Technology. Mensah was elected a Fellow US National Academy of Inventors in 2014. He is also chairman of Entertainment Arts Research Inc, a Virtual Reality and Video Game Design Company. Since early 2016, Mensah has been working to create a "Silicon Valley of the South" in the US State of Texas.

Awards

Mensah is a recipient of several awards including Turner's Trumpet Award for Fiber Optics Innovation, Percy Julian Award, Golden Torch Award; the highest award by NSBE, William Grimes Award and Eminent Engineers award by AIChE. He is also a member of the AIChE 100. In December 2017 he received the Kwame Nkrumah African Genius Award in Science/Technology and Innovation in Ghana. Dr Mensah delivered the 10th R. P. Baffour Lecture at the

on 23 November 2017 where he was awarded an

Honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

Doctor of Science Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

; D.Sc. Honoraris Causa after the lecture. In November 2015, he received the International Business Leadership Award from the African Leadership Magazine in Atlanta Georgia, USA. He has been profiled in Ebony Magazine's edition of October 2006 and Chemical Engineering Progress Magazine's edition of October 2008, March 2009 and March 2015. He served on the visiting committee in Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1988 to 1992. He has also published four books: ''Fiber Optics Engineering'' in 1987, ''Superconductor Engineering'' in 1992 his autobiography ''The Right Stuff Comes in Black, Too'' in 2013 and ''Nanotechnology Commercialization'' in 2017. In the first quarter of 2015, the government of the State of Georgia in the USA passed a House Resolution to commend Mensah and his works.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mensah, Thomas Ghanaian chemical engineers Fiber optics 20th-century American inventors African-American inventors American scientists African-American scientists Scientists at Bell Labs People from Kumasi Ghanaian emigrants to the United States Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology alumni University of Montpellier alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Fellows of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Fellows of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Living people Year of birth uncertain 21st-century African-American people Ghanaian engineers Year of birth missing (living people)