"Elmer Samuel Imes"{1883-1941}

Born in Memphis,Tennessee,was the second African-American to earn a PH.D. in Physics and among the first African American scientists to make important contributions to Modern physics. Elmer was born to Elizabeth Wallace and Benjamin A. Imes both of which were college educated;his father a graduate of Oberlin College.He attended grammar school in Oberlin,Ohio and completed his high school education at the Agricultural and Mechanical High School in Norman Alabama.Elmer graduated from Fisk University in 1903,with a degree in science.Around 1919,he became married to Harlem Renaissance write,Nella Larsen.The couple lived in Harlem becoming part of the Harlem intellectual society.His research doctoral led to the publication of measurements on the near-infrared Absorption of Some Diamotic Gases in November 1919 in the Astrophysical Journal.This paper was followed by a paper co-authored and presented jointly with Harrison Mcallister Randal The Fine Structure of the Near infraRed Absorption Bands of HCI,HBr,and HF at the American Physical Society and published in the Physical Review in 1920.His work demonstrated for the first time that Quantum Theory could be applied to radiation in all regions of the electromagnetic spectrum,to the rotational energy states of molecules as well as the vibration and electronic levels.His work provided and early verification of Quantum Theory.It was of the earliest applications of high resolution infrared spectroscopy.Upon graduating from Fisk Elmer taught mathematics and physics at Georgia Normal Agricultural Institute in Albany,Georgia(presently Albany State University) and the Emerson Institute in Mobile Alabama.He returned to Fisk in 1913 as an instructor of science and mathematics.During this tenure there,Elmer earned a Master's degree in science from Fisk University.In 1918,he earned a PH.D.in Physics at the University of Michigan where he studied under Harrison Randall becoming the second African American to received a P.D. in Physics since Edward Bouchet,did so from Yale University in 1876.In the early 1920s,Elmer found difficulty in securing employment in academia.As a result,he became a physics consultant and research in the physics at the Federal Engineers Development Corporation in 1922 and with the Burrows Magnetic Equipment Corporation in 1924.In 1927,he went to work as a research engineer at E.A. Everett Signal Supplies.During this period Elmer spent in the scientific and materials industry,his work resulted in four patent for instruments which were used for measuring magnetic and electric properties.In 1930,Elmer returned to Fisk University where he served as Chair of the Physics Department.He is credited with the academic development of the physics programs at Fisk from which many of his students went on to obtain doctoral degrees from schools as the University of Michigan.While at Fisk,Elmer developed a course in Cultural Physics.In 1931,he was named of the thriteen most Gifted Black Americans. In 1939,he conducted research in magnetic materials at the Physics Department at New York University and continued as chair of the physics department at Fisk until his death.