Helping Build the Internet: Valerie Thomas | Great Minds

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Despite computers barely being a thing when she was born, Valerie Thomas knew that she was cut out for the tech world, pushed until she got there, and contributed to some hugely important technologies that many of us could not live without.
Hosted By: Hank Green
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Sources:
landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/article...
lemelson.mit.edu/resources/va...
blogs.oregonstate.edu/robinli...
www.blackpast.org/african-ame...
mynasadata.larc.nasa.gov/stem...
Images:
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
www.istockphoto.com/photo/sou...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
www.flickr.com/photos/usgeolo...
svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4745
• NASA | A Landsat Flyby
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/la...
www.nasa.gov/image-feature/fi...
landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/article...
www.nasa.gov/offices/oct/40-y...
www.istockphoto.com/vector/re...
• Concave mirror real i...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
patentimages.storage.googleap...
www.istockphoto.com/photo/abs...
www.istockphoto.com/photo/gro...

[@scishowspace]

This video was sponsored by Ekster. Head to shop.ekster.com/scishow-space for up to 15% off your offer.

[@RoelCandaeleARTISTSPAGE]

😘💓🇺🇦🌍🙏🐻

[@silkyblack90]

Bruh.. shes alive... can we get a interview??

[@minute-ai]

An

[@deisisase]

Seconded!

[@DisastersDynamicsDisability]

Agreed!

[@miriam3848]

YES!!!!

[@TragoudistrosMPH]

It's great to highlight impressive people like her!

[@lilnarm_smoothblaze]

A woman for one thing and black woman is so admirable and our youths need to see this. Very much appreciate it

[@mrhentai7598]

I love that you always include your sources in the description; Along with many other factors, this is why you are on my ad-block whitelist.

[@user-ov9jv1ww4v]

You mean "allowlist"?🙂

[@TheRogueWolf]

Scientist innovates world-changing technology. Most people: "I'm going to retire and write a book." Valerie Thomas: "I'm bored. What else can I study?"

[@ArawnOfAnnwn]

Retiring would imply she made a ton of money off of it, which isn't at all clear from the episode.

[@blockmasterscott]

2:05 that brings back memories of me in school, where do I begin. I had a teacher that looked just like her, polyester shirt, the round glasses, HUGE Jim Kelly(Enter the Dragon) afro, going outside to beat erasers for the black board, and the gargantuan computer tapes. My most vivid memory though was going outside to beat those damn erasers on the concrete lol!

[@joebaumgart1146]

Her and Grace Hopper were my heros in my ethical hacker days.

[@daanyaaljafri3466]

It's videos like this that make me wish KZbin had a sub set for the thumbs up to express how much you truly love the message of videos like this

[@guillermoelnino]

I just wish I could see dislikes again.

[@Vicioussama]

Still rooting for a "Great Minds" for Norman Borlaug. The man who saved a BILLION lives.

[@Vicioussama]

@Mars crop breeding that created strains of crops that fed enough people to save a billion lives worth of people from starvation. Things we still use today for our foods. As well as many other things.

[@guillermoelnino]

but did he have dark skin and a vagina?

[@ooooneeee]

@@guillermoelnino 🤡

[@guillermoelnino]

@@ooooneeee guess that's a no.

[@herrschmidt5477]

But he's not female. Greatest minds is sadly reserved only for female on SciShow. Because equality n stuff.

[@samwill7259]

Why have I never heard her name before? A NASA scientist who helped make some of the backbone of the modern internet makes her like...one of the most important people of the last century at least and yet I've never even heard her name. Friggin schools, I swear to god.

[@MrMudbill]

How many others were on her team though? If they were a team of 30+ people (which is likely) you probably haven't heard the names of the others either.

[@induspherix]

In response to all the contentious recoil, perhaps this article could use a more in depth analysis of the evidence that supports Hank's arguments. That being said, to all the knee-jerk utterances, do you really presume that gender and racial prejudice was NOT a factor in gaining recognition? (Especially during a period when civil rights was only just beginning to gain traction with the conscience of popular culture?)

[@betoen]

You haven't heard of her because at NASA she wasn't alone, she was working along a team to develop that work. This is just a overhyped clip.

[@sovereign2989]

@@MrMudbill doesnt negate the fa t that we havent even heard of her... stop shifting the goal post. How will we know her team if we dont even know she herself that came up with the patent.

[@Noxomerta]

There’s a movie based on her career

[@oopsy444]

I'm so glad we're getting new great mind videos. I just rewatched the Playlist

[@wolfwoman2241]

gota love a good old fashioned physicist, pivoting every 8 years

[@notfiction9241]

It’s always awesome to find a scientist, who had the opportunity to make a real impact on the world, who isn’t an old white dude.

[@angeliquenichelle]

I’m about to cry. I love this!!!!

[@jimurrata6785]

Thank you for this celebration of great women in science!

[@guillermoelnino]

if she wasn't a woman you would never know she existed.

[@TheTerranInformed]

Cool!!!

[@potusforus9331]

I owned a 50 inch Samsung 3-D Plasma TV like 10 years ago. 😅

[@NewMessage]

Thank the Universe that some folk look at the status quo and say... "Nah."

[@ace.of.space.]

damn, I want to be as cool as her! I, unfortunately, did not get hired by NASA immediately after graduating with a bachelor's in physics, but I'm hoping to do my own cool thing at math grad school at beyond.

[@bear41zone]

way to change the world

[@MaureenMurphy_]

Love a black woman from infinity to INFINITY. :) So amazed at how she did this

[@Grummash]

Amazing woman! 👏👍👍👍

[@douglasboyle6544]

I love her majestic Afro!

[@wytsewolf]

Why is this on SciShow Space?

[@2020TYBO]

BECAUSE SHE HELPED SATELLITES WORK..

[@MaureenMurphy_]

Why is it an issue?

[@wytsewolf]

@@MaureenMurphy_ It's not

[@MaureenMurphy_]

@@wytsewolf So why question it

[@zashbot]

gotta scrape the bottom of the barrel for the space woman posts 😂😂

[@planclops]

Slightly off topic, but THAT AFRO?! Hair goals.

[@annalea3026]

Even to date careers in computer science and data analytics are not super common for woman and girls, I am a high school student in a college computer science and data analytics, and we only have 3 girls in our class and next year I will be the only girl in the class

[@Codysdab]

It's just not as interesting subject for women generally, I say this as a hiring IT manager. Our apprenticeship program had over 1000 applicants and only 50 or so were women. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@nebulan]

It wasn't always that way. My experience was like yours but my gen x coworkers had a different experience. They had more even computer classes. I think there was a culture shift in the 90s that told us we weren't supposed to like computers. I ignored that and I'm glad you did too! Good luck and have fun!

[@Razzlion]

@@nebulan Its the same culture shift that made nerds the victims of abuse and liking tech made you a complete outcast and a massive target for girls relentless bullying. Why would women want to work in a field that is "for pimply, sweaty neards"? I see it kinda like how men can't take their kids alone to the park or work with children without getting looks or even confronted just in case they are a pedofile.

[@zashbot]

@@Razzlion High school was literally a decade ago for me and I still don’t trust women at all. the scars of abuse really never go away.

[@hodor3024]

​@@nebulan In the 90s computers became something the average nerd could afford to tinker with in his parents' basement and the girls reacted with EEEEEEEEEEWWWWWW.

[@amberlon]

"we don't have those in our homes yet" bruh we got a 3D projector years ago, we don't use it anymore though. 3D kinda died

[@stax6092]

Awesome.

[@CooBlu20]

Long time Subscriber, yet just seeing this in my recommends.. good job KZbin lol

[@1234j]

What a gifted and inspirational person! 👏👏👏👏👏

[@richardrosejr0]

394th!

[@rnelson1415]

Is this what they call black girl magic ✨✨?

[@busdriver428]

Where is John's Vlogbrothers post? Is everthing OK?

[@dracrichards734]

Actually the internet we know today originated from CERN to help the scientist to communicate over the campus without having to physically walk it. One of the scientist took their computer home and hooked it up and boom it was outside of CERN.it then was shown to NASA and they started replicating it till it became what we know today

[@AndrewTBP]

You are mis-informed about the history and creation of the Internet, confusing the World Wide Web and the Internet.

[@celconviction451]

don't scroll too deep in the comments if you value your sanity

[@guillermoelnino]

wouldn't want to shatter that perfectly curated narrative of yours.

[@celconviction451]

@@guillermoelnino im so so sorry, next time i'll consider my words more carefully. you're right, i should never tolerate the words black woman. i'm going to church next sunday. i'm so so sorry

[@guillermoelnino]

@@celconviction451 do you view everything through the prism of melanin?

[@celconviction451]

@@guillermoelnino yes im so sorry im so sorry i didnt know that race stopped existing in 1860 i'll do better next time i promise i swear on my heart

[@guillermoelnino]

@@celconviction451 hey at least you admit it. the line i get these days is "you live in a fantasy world"

[@osvaldofranco9036]

and she was pretty too!!!

[@therealestatewhisperer4806]

🤩

[@carnsoaks1]

The Dr V Thomas Yoda talking to Luke Diorama. Concave mirrored dish, 2 Star Wars Figurines, Tissue Box, Blue Tack, Bookshelf. Dear Tested, can NORM TRY THIS?

[@theanyktos]

That's a really cool woman.

[@MacoveiVlad]

for some reason "visual image" makes my stomach turn. It is similar to "semantic meaning" in web design. These are "redundant pleonasms". 😉 I understand there is such a thing as a "mental image" but "visual image" still sounds silly.

[@DanielNistrean]

She was in a team. It's the team not her only. Please be objective.

[@MrKenpokarate]

The implication is that she's basically one of the few scientist responsible for our modern life? She helped pioneer satellite mapping of the globe, and the internet? You didn't even mention all of her work. Time for some more research, because she sounds awesome.

[@hodor3024]

She was responsible, among others, to create an image processor. In practice that's really boring stuff and you've never heard of people becoming famous for creaing an image processor. The fact that this processor was used to process images from a satellite doesn't make it pioneer work.

[@MrKenpokarate]

@@hodor3024 are you insane? You realize that getting high definition pictures of the globe from space isn't an easy task? There are a lot of talented people required to get these things done. Don't underplay an accomplishment because it doesn't meet your standards for "impressive". *I* think it's super cool. Plus if it wasn't for her work (amongst others) we wouldn't even be *having* this conversation.

[@hodor3024]

NASA solves not easy tasks all day every day yet you don't get an episode every day. This is exaggeration for the occasion and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. And then that invention which amounted to nothing... the patent offices have archives full of kinda neat contraptions that turned out to not be practical yet we're supposed to be impressed. I'm not.

[@idraote]

Sorry to nitpick, but Ms Thomas has apparently completed no Phd and I wonder why you addressed her repeatedly as Dr.

[@guillermoelnino]

cause it makes her look better

[@nabib6853]

Although she doesn't have a PhD, she has as doctorate in education so she can still be addressed as Dr. :)

[@idraote]

@@nabib6853 I didn't find any mention of this doctorate in education

[@lilnarm_smoothblaze]

@@idraote you can’t stand that can’t you incel

[@Mireaze]

She in invented holographic TV? So that's why we don't have holograms, the patriarchy burried it!?!

[@Callimo]

lol every day, I wonder just how advanced humanity would be without patriarchy, religion, and bigotry holding us back.

[@chandude3]

....I.....oh man.... should someone let her know?

[@DrD0000M]

@@Callimo See pre-Columbian America.

[@herrschmidt5477]

@@chandude3 nah I don't think she does well with irony

[@hubrisbrutus6805]

It is actually sad how a vast majority of these comments are about how little she actually did, a supposed agenda from the woke mob, and others focusing on her race You alls ignorance is showing This is a 6 min video about a little known women in history…i learned something new and maybe, just maybe, a little girl has a new role model to inspire her outside of todays bs influencers

[@gsvick]

I'm not a little girl, but I think it would be much more inspiring if the video actually explained something concrete that she did. I expect more from SciShow than "translate computer gibberish".

[@guillermoelnino]

@@gsvick whatever gets those clicks.

[@lilnarm_smoothblaze]

Don’t undermine this black woman work when you know that the odds were against her because of her skin. I won’t let you do it. You talkin to a man son. Play this game with me if you won’t but you’ll look stupid

[@TheStickCollector]

Huh

[@rickeedavenport1738]

Love how the racist that have posted do anything to try not to give her credit! 🤨🤨🤨

[@WriterDaniels901]

Give black people their BIG CREDIT DUDE

[@TruthSeeker30_]

Their pride is too big

[@Bouitaz]

This has nothing to do with space.

[@guillermoelnino]

doesn't matter. has the correct skin color and genitals.

[@shawnfoogle920]

Lol no one cares

[@TA-xj5we]

IKR! 😆🐿🤣

[@thelegalsystem]

Y'all care enough to leave a comment to boost the video's engagement in the algorithm, so thanks for that ❤

[@TA-xj5we]

@@thelegalsystem the clown-show must go on! 🌈🤡🌈

[@DrD0000M]

A lot of these type of "POC featurettes" here and elsewhere are just patronizing. Recognize significant achievements sure, don't hand out participation trophies, it's demeaning and insulting.

[@hubrisbrutus6805]

plz don’t speak for black women if u r not one

[@hubrisbrutus6805]

as a black women it was fascinating learning about this and it made me wanna look more into Valerie

[@guillermoelnino]

if it weren't for intetgenetational welfare dependence they'd be as successful as asians.

[@brianhenrichs9409]

I Wish I could watch a video a about a woman who is black without it being pointed out that I'm watching a video about a woman who is black

[@Jay-ho9io]

It's nice to want things. The rest of us want a world where someone could make a video about somebody who was interesting and happy to be a woman and or part of a different race and not have a rush of incels like you show up screaming about it. 🤷🏽‍♂️ We've all got our crosses to bear. Ours is having to hear you, and yours is existing and never knowing to touch of another human being without having to pay for it.

[@brianhenrichs9409]

@@Jay-ho9io you should reflect on how you interact with people and consider if it brings you peace and joy.

[@guillermoelnino]

@@Jay-ho9io when you see everything through the lens of race and gender everything appears to be sexist and racist. what this excellent human being was referring to is the fact that she's being talked about because of here social oppression score.

[@Jay-ho9io]

@@guillermoelnino hey look, there's two them!

[@brianhenrichs9409]

@@guillermoelnino nah. I think that woman and people of color need more representation in their role in science and history. I just don't want people to virtue signal while their doing it. I think it detracts from the overall goal which should be not focusing on race either negatively or positively.

[@TopicSet]

Black History Month was over eight days ago.

[@Summer-xe6in]

You didn't have to type this comment. Black History Month ain't got nothing to do with this video. Question for you: Can you see how making such a comment gives others the impression that you don't like black people?

[@nebulan]

Bruh... it IS women's history month. Lemme learn about women pioneers in my field.

[@blackerpanther3329]

She truly didn’t do much. If you do some research, she actually provided very little.

[@Inadharion]

0:26 -- 26 seconds in you HAD TO make this a race issue rather than focus on how awesome she is. Screw this channel.

[@guillermoelnino]

at least they stopped awkwardly stuffing global warming into every video once the gates money ran out.

[@hodor3024]

Added a mirror trick to a TV (that, as we all know, went absolutely nowhere). Whoop a doo. Grasping for straws to serve an agenda.

[@thelegalsystem]

Whose agenda? Please, we are all dying to hear.

[@hodor3024]

@@thelegalsystem Whoever thinks it's obligatory to put a woman on a pedestal for the current day.

[@thelegalsystem]

@@hodor3024 You have a problem with International Womens Day? Did you time travel from the 1800s?

[@hodor3024]

​@@thelegalsystem I have a problem with pretending some woman achieved more than she did just because she's a woman. Nobody would otherwise give a rat's ass about someone who headed the development of an image processor.

[@thelegalsystem]

@@hodor3024 I think they made a compelling case for why her contributions were important. Were you not listening?

[@CanDoo321]

I’ve got no issue learning about historical figures of all kinds. However I do take issue with the exaggerated reaction to a video that just so happens to mention someone black, the reaction used to comfort one’s self when the feel guilty, even though they may not have done anything wrong.

[@thelegalsystem]

Your comment is much like the latter half of your username

[@Callimo]

Oh? And why are *you* feeling guilty, my dear? If you haven't done anything, why mention guilt? xD

[@DrD0000M]

@@Callimo Have you not been to a university lately? If you are white, you are reminded constantly that you should feel guilty for existing.

[@onemllnonetoone]

@@DrD0000M I have been to a University lately. Have you? That's not a feeling I see people getting, myself included.

[@hubrisbrutus6805]

@@thelegalsystem incredible 😂😂🤣🤣

[@TheVanneo]

Affirmative action career, complete BS