Honoring America's 1st African-American Astronaut

Honoring America’s 1st African-American Astronaut

This fall marks 50 years since the death of Major Robert H. Lawrence Jr., a 1956 graduate of ��ý��Ƶ and the nation’s first African-American astronaut. ��ý��Ƶ is set to honor Lawrence on October 12.

Major Robert H. Lawrence Jr.

10/11/2017 1:00 AM

This fall marks 50 years since the death of Major Robert H. Lawrence Jr., a 1956 chemistry graduate of ��ý��Ƶ and the nation’s first African-American astronaut. In December of 1967, following his appointment to the Manned Orbital Laboratory program, Major Lawrence was killed while training another pilot in a Lockheed F-104 jet at Edwards Air Force Base when the student crash-landed the plane.

Since 1988, ��ý��Ƶ has honored his legacy with the Robert H. Lawrence endowed Lectureship. The Mund-Lagowski Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry is pleased to announce that Dr. Herman B. White, Jr., a particle physicist from the Fermilab, will present “Pioneering in Science, Space, and Society” for this year’s Lawrence Lecture.

The Major Robert H. Lawrence, Jr. Memorial Scholarship at ��ý��Ƶ was established the same year of his death and in 1989 the Lawrence Conference Room was dedicated in ��ý��Ƶ’s Olin Hall, containing the Lawrence portrait by Wm. F. Hardin (’50).

The Lawrence Lecture will be held at 5 p.m. on October 12 in the Lawrence Lecture Hall (Olin room 164).

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Honoring America’s 1st African-American Astronaut

This fall marks 50 years since the death of Major Robert H. Lawrence Jr., a 1956 graduate of ������ý��Ƶ and the nation’s first African-American astronaut. ������ý��Ƶ is set to honor Lawrence on October 12.

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This fall marks 50 years since the death of Major Robert H. Lawrence Jr., a 1956 graduate of ��ý��Ƶ and the nation’s first African-American astronaut. ��ý��Ƶ is set to honor Lawrence on October 12.