James West

James Edward Maceo West (born February 10, 1931) is an American inventor and acoustician. He holds over 250 foreign and U.S. patents for the production and design of microphones and techniques for creating polymer foil electrets. Early life West was born on February 10, 1931, in Farmville, Prince Edward County, Virginia as the elder of two children to Samuel Edward and Matilda West. He was born in his maternal grandfather's house because the local hospital would not admit Black people. His father worked at various points as a funeral home owner, an insurance salesman, and as a Pullman porter on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. His mother was a schoolteacher who worked at Langley Air Force Base during World War II; she later lost her job due to her involvement in the NAACP and became one of the "Hidden Figures" (Black astrophysicists who worked for NASA at Langley Research Center and received little to no credit for their work). His maternal grandmother, who was formerly enslaved, was a major influence on him; she raised him while his mother was away teaching at a Native American reservation in Pennsylvania. He became interested in electricity at twelve years old after taking a job installing electrical wiring in homes in rural Virginia with his cousin. Education After attending school in Farmville, his parents moved him to Phenix High School in Hampton, Virginia for better opportunities. After graduating high school, he attended Hampton University on a pre-medical track before being drafted into the U.S. Army in the Korean War, where he received a Purple Heart after being wounded there. Later, he attended Temple University to study physics. Initially, West was excluded from study groups due to his race but was soon invited after he was able to solve even the most complex group problems on his own.