Carolyn Beatrice Parker
Alicia Sometimes
It was a silvery metal in a dark room blue-skewed glow excited by decay Did Carolyn Parker hold the polonium in her hands did she ever breathe it in? working government top-secret with this radioactive element —The Dayton Project— research and development during World War II part of the Manhattan Project building the first atomic bombs Parker the first Black woman in the U.S. to have a postgraduate degree in physics two master's—the other in mathematics dedicated, hardworking, afire little is known of her work within the team constructing secrets: polonium-based neutron initiators kindling pressure Dayton Project employees weren’t allowed to eat in processing areas scrubbing down before leaving (some had contaminated bobby pins) she became an assistant professor in physics at Fisk University close to completing a doctorate at MIT so much more to discover from this sharp ascending scientist her time far too short atomic number 84 leukaemia at age 48