Thomas Owusu Mensah (1950 – 27 March 2024) was a Ghanaian-American

chemical engineer A chemical engineer is a professional equipped with the knowledge of chemistry and other basic sciences who works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of Product (chemistry), products and deals with ...

and inventor who contributed to the development of

fiber optic An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at ...

manufacturing and

nanotechnology Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). At this scale, commonly known as the nanoscale, surface area and quantum mechanical effects become important in describing propertie ...

. He had 14 patents, and was inducted into the US National Academy of Inventors in 2015. In 2017, Mensah served as

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of the textbook ''Nanotechnology Commercialization'', published by

John Wiley & Sons John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Publishing, publishing company that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company was founded in 1807 and pr ...

Early life and education

Thomas Mensah was born in

Kumasi Kumasi is a city and the capital of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly and the Ashanti Region of Ghana. It is the second largest city in the country, with a population of 443,981 as of the 2021 census. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region ...

, Ghana, in 1950.Profile of the late Dr. Thomas Mensah
''GhanaWeb'' 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 held in

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

, Ghana, both at the Ordinary Level (1968) and Advanced Level (1970). Mensah attended Adisadel College in

Cape Coast Cape Coast is a city and the capital of the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly, Cape Coast Metropolitan District and the Central Region (Ghana), Central Region of Ghana, Ghana. It is located about from Sekondi-Takoradi and approximately from Ac ...

, Ghana, and completed his undergraduate studies in

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

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), commonly known as UST, Tech or Kwame Tech, is a public university located in Kumasi, Ashanti region, Ghana. The university focuses on science and technology. It is the second public uni ...

in Kumasi. He then received a French government fellowship to study at Montpellier University in France. While there, he took part in a program at

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(MIT) and received a certificate in Modeling and Simulation of Chemical Processes from MIT in 1977. A year later, Mensah graduated with his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

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

from Montpelier University.

Career

Mensah worked at Air Products and Chemicals from 1980 to 1983. In 1983, he joined Corning Glass Works, working in

fiber optics An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at ...

research at Sullivan Park,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. 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. On 24 February 2017,

WTOC-TV WTOC-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Savannah, Georgia, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by Gray Media. The station's studios are located off Chatham Center Drive in Savannah's Chatham Parkway section, and its transmitter ...

News ran a segment for

Black History Month Black History Month is an annually observed commemorative month originating in the United States, where it is also known as African-American History Month. It began as a way of remembering important people and events in the history of the Af ...

about Mensah's work on fiber optics and its impact on the internet. Mensah moved to

Bell Laboratories Nokia Bell Labs, commonly referred to as ''Bell Labs'', is an American industrial research and development company owned by Finnish technology company Nokia. With headquarters located in Murray Hill, New Jersey, the company operates several lab ...

in 1986, where he led a program to develop the first

laser-guided Laser guidance directs a robotics system to a target position by means of a laser beam. The laser guidance of a robot is accomplished by projecting a laser light, image processing and communication to improve the accuracy of guidance. The key ide ...

weapons for the

US Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

guided missile A missile is an airborne ranged weapon capable of Propulsion, self-propelled flight aided usually by a propellant, jet engine or rocket motor. Historically, 'missile' referred to any projectile that is thrown, shot or propelled towards a targ ...

program. This program enabled the development of missiles that travel at the

speed of sound The speed of sound is the distance travelled per unit of time by a sound wave as it propagates through an elasticity (solid mechanics), elastic medium. More simply, the speed of sound is how fast vibrations travel. At , the speed of sound in a ...

(Mach 1). Mensah was president and CEO of Georgia Aerospace Systems, which manufactures

nanocomposite Nanocomposite is a multiphase solid material where one of the phases has one, two or three dimensions of less than 100 nanometers (nm) or structures having nano-scale repeat distances between the different phases that make up the material. In the ...

structures used in missiles and aircraft for the US Department of Defense. Mensah served on the board of several organizations, including the

AIChE The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) is a professional organization for chemical engineers. AIChE was established in 1908 to distinguish chemical engineers as professionals independent of chemists and mechanical engineers. Curr ...

National Board of Directors (1987–1990), and was a trustee of the board of AIChE Foundation and a board member for the NASA Space Grant Consortium at

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...

. He was elected a Fellow of the

National Academy of Inventors The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) is a US non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging inventors in academia, following the model of the National Academies of the United States. It was founded at the University of South Florida in 201 ...

in 2014. Mensah was chairman of Entertainment Arts Research Inc, a virtual reality and video game design company. From early 2016, he worked to create a "Silicon Valley of the South" in the U.S. state of

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

Death

Mensah died in Kumasi, Ghana, on 27 March 2024, at the age of 74.

Awards

Mensah was a recipient of several awards, including Turner's Trumpet Award for Fiber Optics Innovation, the Percy L. Julian Award, the Golden Torch Award, which is the highest award given by NSBE, the William Grimes Award, and the Eminent Engineers award by AIChE. He was also a member of the AIChE 100. In December 2017, he received the

Kwame Nkrumah Francis Kwame Nkrumah (, 21 September 1909 – 27 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He served as Prime Minister of the Gold Coast (British colony), Gold Coast from 1952 until 1957, when it gained ...

African Genius Award in Science/Technology and Innovation in Ghana. On 23 November 2017, Mensah delivered the 10th R. P. Baffour Lecture at the

, where he was awarded an honorary

Doctor of Science A Doctor of Science (; most commonly abbreviated DSc or ScD) is a science doctorate awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. Africa Algeria and Morocco In Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Tunisia, all universities accredited by the s ...

degree after the lecture. In November 2015, he received the International Business Leadership Award from ''African Leadership'' magazine in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, Georgia, USA. He has been profiled in ''

Ebony Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also includes the persimmon tree. A few ''Diospyros'' species, such as macassar and mun ebony, are dense enough to sink in water. Ebony is fin ...

'' magazines edition of October 2006 and ''Chemical Engineering Progress Magazine''s edition of October 2008, March 2009 and March 2015. Mensah served on the visiting committee in Chemical Engineering at the

from 1988 to 1992. He was the author of 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 U.S. state of Georgia passed a House Resolution to commend Mensah and his works.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mensah, Thomas 20th-century births Year of birth uncertain 2024 deaths 20th-century American inventors 21st-century African-American academics 21st-century African-American scientists 21st-century American academics African-American inventors American scientists Fellows of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Fellows of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Fiber optics Ghanaian chemical engineers Ghanaian emigrants to the United States Ghanaian engineers Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering People from Kumasi Scientists at Bell Labs University of Montpellier alumni