Deborah Blanche Washington Brown
Personal Information
Born: 1952
Died: 2020
Country of Birth: USA
Nationality: USA
Ethnicity: Black
Education
New England Conservatory of Music, 1970-71; Lowell Technical Institute, BA Mathematics, 1975; 1977, MA Applied Mathematics/Computer Science, 1981, PhD Applied Mathematics/Computer Science Harvard University
Professional Life
Field of Study: Computer Science; Speech Recognition
Institution/Corporation: AT&T, Bell Labs
Degrees & Memberships: none
Awards & Achievements
Awards: none
Achievements: 1st Black woman to obtain a PhD in Applied Mathematics/Computer Science from Harvard; holds 16 patents in the US (1 Pending), 1 in Canada, & 1 in Europe
1st African-American woman to earn a Phd in Computer Science at Harvard University (1981)
Has a twin brother, Melvin Charles Washington
Wanted to be a classical pianist & attended New England Conservatory of Music in 1970 but left the following year
Was elected Commencement Marshall at her Harvard graduation
Her 1st job was developing software for missile defense technology
Continued to study & teach piano, played at Carnegie Hall & excelled in competitions
Held 16 patents, 11 in speech recognition