Valerie Thomas
American scientist and inventor · United States · On the map · Scientists · Born 1943 · age 83
Valerie L. Thomas is an American data scientist and inventor. She invented the illusion transmitter, for which she received a patent in 1980. She was responsible for developing the digital media formats that image processing systems used in the early years of NASA's Landsat program.
Valerie Thomas is read about 40 times a day, in 18 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 24 September 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 60 days, one point a day.
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About this person
Being born in Baltimore, Maryland during racial segregation, Thomas had to overcome many barriers to graduate from Morgan State University. She graduated with honors in 1964 with a degree in physics. She went on the work at NASA for 31 years which included leadership on multiple projects like the Large Area Crop Inventory Experiment (LACIE) and Space Physics Analysis Network (SPAN). After retiring in 1995, Thomas continued to mentor underrepresented youth in STEM fields. She was induced into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2018 which recognized her contributions to satellite communication and remote sensing technology.
