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RELATED ARTICLES: Interviews Please join our online discussions You said it ... Real letters from Real folks This Man Is Hot By Baffour Ankomah + + + RELATED WEBSITES: Emeagwali's web site His wife His son

By McLord Obioha Suddenly the class "froze" with shock and unbelief. The high school physics teacher could not go further. He has ran out of ideas. He was stumped. So, he stood just there for those longest trying minutes of his career starring at the problem on the chalkboard --- amidst the embarassment of his befuddled students. Then, a student walked up from behind and grabbed the chalk from the exasperated teacher and finished off the problem. It was like magic. That student was Philip Emeagwali. And he was only 15. Twenty-five years later, Philip Emeagwali is performing magic but this time in various fields of sciences --- computing science, Mathematics, Engineering, etc. "He could always challenge the instructor," fellow classmate, Peter Ozoh, a chemical engineer at Hercules Aerospace in Desoto, Kansas, told Ann Arbor News in a 1990 interview. He said that Emeagwali was such a mathematics genius that his fellow classmates nicknamed him "Calculus" because he helped them solve their mathematical problems. Philip Emeagwali PhD, who has picked up awards, honors, commendations, citations, medals, there is in the field of computing and other sciences is perhaps Africa's best known scientist in the field today. Currently, he is the recipient of the most prestigious award of Gordon Bell prize in the field of computing --- an award which was handed over to him before a gathering of over 6,000 renown scientists. He earned that prize by using a $6 million massively parallel computers to develop $30 million super computers which hit a hitherto unknown speed of 3.1 billion calculation per second speed. Click on photograph of the 65,000-processor programmed by Emeagwali to perform the world's fastest computation at 3.1 billion calculations per second. Emeagwali's invention has a Nigerian angle to it (He never forgets his root). When oil is trapped within rocks, oil companies can only get 5 to 50 % of it, but with the help of Emeagwali's invention, scientist can now increase accuracy and subsequently boost the amount of oil by some percentages. Only 30 percent of oil can be recovered from the average oil field. Petroleum reservoir simulators, running on massively parallel computers, are X-ray machines that help the oil industry recover more oil. Emeagwali's feat was such that his colleagues laughed it off while the then Nigeria's Ambassador to the USA, Dr Hamzat Ahmadu commended him in a letter for "showing the world that contrary to many negative press....Nigerians are capable of achieving greatness and do indeed excel in many fields." "When he told me about the result, I thought he had made a mistake," William Martin, director of the U-M's laboratory for Scientific Computation, told The Ann Arbor News. "He has made a significant accomplishment in a Computer sense," Alvis E. McDonald, a research scientist who simulates oil fields at Mobil Research and Development Corp., Dallas said in an interview. Nigerian Oil Drilling Rig That was then. This year, Emeagwali took home the coveted Pioneer of the Year award of the National Society Black Engineers. His wall is adorned with awards etc. starting from 1989 to the present that at a point this reporter lost count. Born in Akure, Ondo state, Nigeria, this Umudei, Onitsha native who is married to an African American, Dale Brown Emeagwali PhD, is not resting on his past achievements. He is continuing in his endeavor to show the world that the field of sciences, computers, and Internet is not the exclusive reserve of the likes of Albert Einstein and Bill Gates. His wife, a molecular microbiologist is listed in the Who is Who in the American Education, Who is Who in Science and Engineering and American Men and Women of Science. (Left to Right) Dale Emeagwali, Mrs. Doris Brown (Dale's Mother) and Ma Mamie (Doris's mother). Philip Emeagwali was the first human ever to solve a mathematical problem that tormented mathematicians all over the world for 50 years. A Soviet mathematician, B. K. Risenkamppf attempted the problem but abandoned it. A German, Paul Fillunger could not either. Emeagwali in front of the partial differential equations that won him the Gordon Bell Prize. Emeagwali has in the past several years submitted 41 inventions covering seven technologies and his office in St. Pauls, Minnesota is full of funding proposals from different companies and government. He developed "hyperball computers" for global warming. He is also actively monitoring the $2.6 billion Africa ONE project which is expected to bring the Internet to Africa by 1999, using fibre optics. Landing points for the Africa ONE Internet Project "Africa is being left out completely in this information thing. They are coming up very late. Currently, Nigeria is at zero point. Of all the African countries, only South Africa is making progress. Even Ghana and Kenya is ahead of Nigeria in the field of Internet, he said in an interview with The Nigerian. Emeagwali subscribes to the idea of transfer of technology. On why Nigerian engineers are not besting their western counterparts, Emeagwali submits that the prohibitive cost of funding science is the reason for this. He doubts if he could have been able to achieve these feats if he were still in Nigeria. Dr. Emeagwali who sees himself as a role model for the black race especially Nigeria and the African American in particular, says their is no such thing as a superior race. "All that any particular group or race needs is exposure and necessary tools to operate. Unlike the white people, the blacks have not had the tools for years and if given the right tools, they will perform creditably. I can tell you that some blacks I have seen, make better PhD's that their white counterparts," he added. The renown computer scientist has an advice I for those parents who are worried about their children being hooked on TV. He advises parents to get their children on the Internet as a way to make them learn. Has Nigerian government contacted him for his services? He said that his contact with the government was only "informal" adding that only Chief Shonekan during his brief administration started plans to bring him home then. Emeagwali's success story began some 35 years in the little town of Akure where he was born. Emeagwali grew up in this Nigerian fishing town called Forcados. There, his father who was a nurse continued to advise the then young Philip on the need to be a successful mathematician. His father will draw his attention to the Nigerian mathematical guru, Chike Obi PhD a graduate of Cambridge University, England and the need for him to be like him. This idea paid off and Emeagwali who also excelled in other subjects was very good in mathematics. "Chike Obi was my idol then and he is still my idol even as of today. My father admired him. He was like Albert Einstein to us," Emeagwali said. As is typical with most family, Emeagwali's had problem financing his education so he dropped out after eight grade so as to give his other siblings a chance. At 17, he gained admission into Oregon State University. His resume says that he supported his education with his many varied jobs. He was at one time a day care worker, short-order cook, night watchman, landscape maintenance helper etc. In 1981, he married Dale Brown and together they have a six-year old son - Ijeoma. Would he advice him to take after him? Dale, Ijeoma and Philip Emeagwali. "I would not wish this to anybody. I don't envy scientists. This is a very time consuming profession. I am always involved in one form of project or the other. You have to work extraordinarily hard if you really want to succeed as a good scientist," he told me in an interview. "I don't know if my son will want to go through this. I am not going to push him into anything. The freedom is his to choose," he added. Emeagwali's parents and his four brothers and four sisters now live in Washington DC area. He has been able to see all his seven siblings through college and he has designed programs which teach children how to use the Internet, among other computer skill. At 41, Philip Emeagwali is already an accomplished scientist. He has a PhD in Scientific Computing from Ann Arbor, Michigan, a degree in Ocean and Marine Engineering, from George Washington University, a Master of Art in Applied Mathematics from University of Maryland, a Master of Science Degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering also from George Washington University and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Mathematics from Oregon State University-a school he first set foot on when he arrived America. And if you think that Emeagwali is one of those engineers who think, talk and breathe science and know only screws and bolts all day, think again. Infact he has a General Certificate of Education in English from the University of London. "I don't talk technical when I am discussing science," he told The Nigerian. Not only that, unlike a typical Nigerian who has such basketful of accolades, his success has not affected his demeanor. He is a very humble man. This reporter discovered these features during the course of the interview. He is not only courteous but demonstrates what his former Dean at George Washington University, once wrote about him that "he is extremely pleasant and contagiously enthusiastic about his work." Emeagwali is really a source of pride to all blacks in the diaspora. Reported by McLord Obioha for the June 1996 issue of The Nigerian Philip Emeagwali's Honors 1. Nigeria Prize, (Africa's largest scholarly prize) 2. America's Best & Brightest, Dollars & Sense 3. Pioneer of the Year, NSBE 4. Scientist of the Year, NSBE 5. Distinguished Scientist Award, NSBE 6. Computer Scientist of the Year, NTA 7. National Lecturer, ACM 8. Distinguished Visitor, IEEE 9. Distinguished Eagle Award, Nigeria 10. Nigerian Achiever of the Year 11. Emminent Engineer, Tau Beta Pi 12. Computer Pioneer, 50th computer anniversary 13. Africa's Best Scientist, Daily Sketch Click on emeagwali.com for more information.