Kwadwo Adae has created a new mural on Henry Street in New Haven to honor Edward Alexander Bouchet, the first black person to earn a Ph.D. from an American university (Yale 1876, in physics).
According to an article written by Anissa Ramirez in the New Haven Independent, “Adae displays Bouchet in many colors, and there is a reasoning behind this. Bouchet’s dissertation was entitled ‘On Measuring Refractive Indices,’ which is about how light bends in materials, like how a straw looks broken in a glass of water. But light is also the reason why we see color. ‘If he is measuring wavelengths of light, that is the differences of color,’ said Adae. ‘That is something that should be added to his legacy.’”
You can read more about the mural and the artist in the article, linked below.
For more about the artist, please see the artist’s website.