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Celebrating Black Innovation

 Canada

Thales is committed to diversity and inclusion, and to celebrating the critical role they play in helping us build a future we can all trust. In recognition of Black History Month, we acknowledge the contributions of Black Americans and Canadians to this future— to driving technological advancements that have shaped our world, and continue to pave the way for innovation.

Why Black History, Why Now?

Black History Month gives us the opportunity to examine the complex racial challenges and adversities that these innovators faced, which made their achievements all the more extraordinary. By continuing to acknowledge these complexities, we can better understand how they influence our world today, and work together to address them.

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Check out some of the Black pioneers & innovators that have played critical roles in shaping the markets we serve.

Tara Dillon Wright & Mallory Cave

Tara and Mallory made history as the 1st Black female pilots to fly for Alaska Airlines in 2018. During the flight, Captain Tara Wight announced to all aboard Flight 361 that Wright and first officer Mallory Cave would be the airline's first-ever Black female flight crew.

Mae C. Jemison

Mae C. Jemison is an American engineer, physician, and former NASA astronaut from Decatur, Alabama. She was the 1st Black woman to travel into space, serving as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992.

Mark Dean

Mark Dean is a co-inventor of IBM's original personal computer and the PC color monitor. He also made contributions to the technology that enables printers, keyboards, and mice to communicate with computers.

Granville Woods

Granville Woods was an American inventor from Columbus, Ohio. In 1887, he invented a telegraph system that communicated between trains and tower telegraphers to advise the distance between moving trains. His invention helped set the groundwork for modern day signaling technologies.

Lloyd Austin

Lloyd Austin, a retired four-star Army general, was confirmed the 1st Black United States Secretary of Defense in January 2021. Austin served more than 40 years in the Army, and headed U.S. Central Command, the Pentagon's key post leading military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. He served as commander of the theater from 2013 to 2016, making him the first Black general to hold that post.

Tarrance Freeman

Officer Tarrance Freeman of Windsor, Ontario, was the 1st Black pilot to be commissioned in the Royal Canadian Air Force on July 9, 1943.  Freeman is believed to be the first Black Canadian navigator in the RCAF. 

Elijah McCoy

McCoy invented an automatic engine oiling device in 1872 that revolutionized steam train technology—greatly increasing rail travel efficiency.

Born in Ontario, McCoy trained as an engineer in Scotland and took a job working for a railroad, where he invented his lubrication device. It was so popular that it was imitated by many, but his own version was so much more effective that for many railroads, only the “real McCoy” would do – coining the well-known phrase.

Dr. Shirley Jackson

Dr. Shirley Jackson was the 1st Black woman to earn a doctorate in nuclear physics at MIT. Her experiments with theoretical physics paved the way for numerous telecommunication developments including the touch-tone telephone, the portable fax, caller ID, call waiting, and the fiber-optic cable.

Major Stephen Blizzard

After migrating to Canada in 1958, Major Blizzard was the only Black person to serve as a Canadian Armed Forces jet pilot and flight surgeon simultaneously. Throughout his long and varied career in the Canadian military, he was a trailblazer both in the air and in medicine, making  important contributions to aviation medicine in both the military and civil fields.

Patricia Cowings

Dr. Patricia Cowings is an aerospace psychophysiologist for NASA and the first African American woman to receive scientist astronaut training. She is best known for developing and patenting the autogenic-feedback training exercise (AFTE), a treatment for motion sickness in space.

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