Student Success ServicesStudent Success Services >McNair Program > Dr. McNair's Biography
Dr. Ronald Erwin McNair was born in Lake City, South Carolina on October 21st, 1950. Born into a United States still divided along color lines, Ronald attended the segregated public schools of South Carolina. The child's early years were spent in a home with no electricity and no running water. Though faced with challenges from an early age, Ronald was a lucky child for his parents instilled in him the principles of hard work and determination.
The middle child in a family of three boys, Ronald and his brothers came of age watching their parents struggle not only to provide for the family, but also to set an example of combating discrimination through education. Ronald's father, Carl, was an automobile body repairman. He earned a small income, never more than $100 dollars a week in Ronald's youth, but he taught his boys the trade -- to use their hands for skilled labor. Ronald's mother, Pearl, was a high school teacher. While her sons attended elementary school, Pearl made the 600 mile round-trip drive to Orangeburg, South Carolina to attend South Carolina State College to earn a Master's Degree in Education. The McNair children followed their parent's example and did well in school while working in the summer months as farm laborers to add to the family's income.
Young Ronald excelled in school despite the poverty and discrimination that surrounded him. He once told a reporter, "It means trying a little harder, fighting a little harder to get what you perhaps deserve. It means building up a tolerance and not being discouraged by some of the obstacles put in front of you" (Hawkins, 295). Ronald was a good athlete as well as an exceptional student. He developed an early love for science after the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik in 1957, and he turned his passion for learning into real results when he was named valedictorian of Carver High School in 1967. McNair's hard work garnered him a scholarship to North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Grennsboro.
Like many Freshmen, McNair was discouraged by University life until he discovered a major that challenged and excited him: Physics. Four years later, McNair graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics. He was named a Ford Foundation Fellow and Presidential Scholar. McNair was once again awarded a scholarship, this time to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). While studying at MIT, McNair also did research at the Ecole d'ete Theorique de Physique at Les Houches in France. His emphasis was on specialized laser technology. With all his success, McNair was still to face overwhelming obstacles. This time in the form of simple bad luck. McNair spent two years gathering data for his doctoral thesis on laser technology, only to lose all his research near the end of his studies. Instead of lamenting the loss and allowing circumstances to dishearten him, McNair began his research anew. Michael Feld, McNair's doctoral thesis advisor, remembers the event, "the second set turned out better than the first set of data. This was typical of the way [McNair] worked to accomplish goals" (African Diaspora, 2). McNair earned his Ph.D. in physics from MIT in 1976.
Though McNair was an outstanding student and researcher, he led a full life outside the university setting as well. While in graduate school, McNair met and married Cheryl Moore. The couple would eventually have two children together, Reginald and Joy. McNair also trained in Karate during his university years. He became a black belt in the sport and offered classes in Karate through the local church. McNair would go on to win the AAU Karate Gold Medal in 1976, the same year he earned his Ph.D. McNair was an accomplished musician who played and composed pieces for the saxophone. Later, he became the first person to play the saxophone in space.
McNair started his career at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California. It was at Hughes that McNair first learned that NASA had begun to accept applications for astronaut training from scientists -- a field normally populated by test pilots. McNair was accepted into the program only to once again face setbacks. A car accident left McNair seriously injured and threatened his entrance into NASA's astronaut program. Years later, after becoming an astronaut, McNair "would counsel young people to persevere, to be prepared, and to believe in themselves... Following his own creed of perseverance, preparation, endurance, and self-belief" McNair worked hard to recover from the accident and became one of the 35 astronauts chosen for the NASA space program in 1978 (African Diaspora 2).
After a one year training program, McNair became qualified as a mission specialist astronaut on Space Shuttle flight crews. He worked at the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory until he was assigned to Mission 41-B in 1983. His first flight on the shuttle Challenger launched from Kennedy Space Center in February, 1984. "Challenger orbited the earth 122 times and launched a $75 million communications satellite, an operation that required [McNair] to operate Challenger's remote manipulator arms" (African Diaspora 3). McNair would spend a total of 91 hours outside the earth's atmosphere in 1984, making him the second black American astronaut in space.
In 1986, McNair was assigned as a mission specialist to flight STS 51-L on the shuttle Challenger. The mission was recognized by the press, and the world, for both its racial and gender diversity. It was also the first space mission on which a private citizen, teacher Christie McAuliffe, would join seasoned NASA veterans. "On January 28, 1986, television sets the world over tuned to major network coverage of the Cape Canaveral, Florida flight that began its climb into space at 11:38 am. A little over a minute later, millions of viewers, in addition to the site witnesses comprised of crew members' families, friends, and co-workers, watched in horror as Challenger exploded. As they watched, mesmerized by the awful beauty of the spectacle, white plums of smoke slowly spiraled earthward and the finality of the doomed flight became apparent. All seven members of the crew died" (African Diaspora 3).
But Ronald McNair's legacy lives on. After her husband's death, Cheryl McNair and other family members of the Challenger mission established the Challenger Center for Space Science Education. In 1989 the Ronald McNair Post- Baccalaureate Achievement Program was initiated. Today, McNair scholars across the United States are encouraged by Ronald McNair's inspiring story. They pursue their dreams with his memory in mind.
African Diaspora Website. Ronald Erwin McNair Biography. 27 Jan. 2004.
http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/physics/mcnair_ronalde.html.
Encyclopedia Astronautica. McNair. 27 Jan. 2004.
http://www.astronautix.com/astros/mcnair.htm.
Hawkins, Walter M. African American Biographies: Profiles of 558 Current Men and Women. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 1992.
NASA Website. Astronaut Bio. Ronald McNair 6/86. 27, Jan 2004.
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov?Bios/htmlbios/mcnair.html.
*The University of Nevada, Reno McNair Scholars Program is federally funded at $231,000.00 annually.
University of Nevada, Reno
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Last Modified: 10/17/2007
