George Alcorn is mostly known for inventing the imaging X-ray spectrometer, however this was one of at least 20 inventions that the talented man produced during his works alongside the likes of Philco-Ford, Perkin-Elmer, IBM and NASA. He is the holder of eight patents.

Born in 1940 he went onto attend (on scholarship) Occidental College in Los Angeles, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Physics. He then received his degree with honors while earning eight letters in basketball and football. Alcorn earned a Master of Science in Nuclear Physics in 1963 from Howard University, after nine months of study.

He has worked on countless projects with Nasa, which resulted in him winning a medal for his work recruiting minorities, he was also awarded Government Executives Magazine’s prestigious Technology Leadership Award for the Airborne Lidar Topographical Mapping System in 2001 and was named the NASA Inventor of the Year Award in 1984.

Alcorn’s crowning glory, the imaging x-ray spectrometer helps scientists better understand what materials are composed of and when they can or cannot be broken down. Experts in the field thought that Alcorn’s inclusion of the thermomigration of aluminum in the spectrometer was a major innovation. This led to his NASA Inventor of the Year Award.

Alcorn also worked as a professor at Howard University and the University of the District of Columbia. He taight electrical engineering and also was a mentor for the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s (UMBC’s) Myerhoff Program, which works to promote minority Ph.Ds in science and mathematics.

His work in the field of science and the area of bringing more people like him into science cannot be understated! A very important man whom we hear very little about!

Learn more at Buffalo.edu.