Exhibition Visionary Female Researchers: Shirley Ann Jackson

Shirley Ann Jackson was born in Washington D.C. on 5 August 1946, the second of three children. Her mother Beatrice was a social worker, and her father George held an executive position in the United States Postal Service. Jackson’s parents supported their daughter at school and encouraged her interest in the natural sciences. At school, she attended advanced classes in mathematics and natural science. In 1964, she graduated from Roosevelt High School in Washington D.C. at the top of her class. 

She then embarked on a degree course in physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). During the academic year which started in 1964, 43 of the 900 new students were women and around 20 of the 8,000 Bachelor’s degree students were black. She funded her studies with grants and a part-time job at MIT’s food science laboratory. In 1968, Jackson graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in physics. She continued her studies 

at MIT and focused on elementary particle theory for her doctorate. In 1973, she became the first African-American woman to receive a doctoral degree from MIT.

During the course of her postgraduate research, Jackson worked in prestigious physics laboratories in the USA and Europe, including the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in California and the Aspen Center for Physics in Colorado.

From 1976 to 1991, Jackson worked at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey. Here she mainly focused on solid state physics but was also involved in research projects in the fields of theoretical, optical and quantum physics.

Between 1991 and 1995, Jackson held the post of professor of physics at Rutgers University (State University of New Jersey).In 1995, U.S. President Bill Clinton appointed her to the post of chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. She was the first woman and the first Afro-American to hold this position. 

In 1999, she was also the first woman and the first Afro-American to be elected President of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), the oldest technical research university in the USA.

Before Jackson took office, the Institute was in difficult financial circumstances and student numbers had been declining for years. Jackson presented a detailed plan proposing that the RPI should focus more intensively on biotechnology and information technology and appoint lecturers who were renowned in these fields. During Jackson's presidency, the RPI became a leading technical research university:

over the first eight years, the research funding provided rose from 37 million U.S. dollars to 80 million. In 2001, she managed to secure an anonymous donation of 360 million U.S. dollars, at that time the biggest donation ever made to an American university. The number of applications for study places and the science prizes received tripled under Jackson’s auspices, and the number of doctorates awarded almost doubled. In 2010, the Institute announced that the university council had voted unanimously to extend Jackson's contract by another ten years to 2020. 

Besides working for the Rensselaer Institute, Jackson also performs numerous other tasks. In 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama appointed her to the United States President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. 

She is also a fellow of the American Physical Society and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the British Royal Academy of Engineering. Moreover, she is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Philosophical Society.

She is a director of several companies, including IBM, Medtronic and Marathon Oil. She was the President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the Smithsonian Institution’s supervisory board.

Over the course of her career, Jackson has received numerous prizes and distinctions in recognition of her contributions to research and education.  In 1998, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in honour of her scientific achievements.

In 2002, Discover magazine named Jackson as one of the 50 most influential women in the sciences. In 2005, Time magazine described her as “perhaps the ultimate role model for women in science”.

Jackson steps down as president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2022 after leading the institution for 23 years. She remains active on various scientific and security policy committees. Among other things, she is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre and is involved in national advisory committees, including the International Security Advisory Board of the US State Department and the Advisory Board of the US Department of Energy.