Dr. Thomas Mensah: Meet the Ghanaian and former Adisco student who invented fiber optics
- Dr. Thomas Mensah is a world-renowned Ghanaian-American inventor and chemical engineer
- Dr. Mensah contributed to the development of innovative fiber optics and nanotechnology
- He was born in 1950 in Kumasi, Ghana
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Dr. Thomas Mensah is a world-renowned Ghanaian-American inventor and chemical engineer notable for his trailblazing innovations in fiber optics and nanotechnology.
Born in 1950 to J.K. Mensah, a businessman who shipped cocoa products to chocolate manufacturers in France, Thomas was an exceptionally bright child, learning to read newspapers at an early age and becoming fluent in French.
As a child, he often conversed in French with his father’s business associates. He went on to win the National Competition in France in 1968 and 1970.
The native of Kumasi received his early education at Adisadel College, a boys’ school in Cape Coast.
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Thomas, who was particularly excellent at science and maths, received a scholarship to study chemical engineering at the University of Science and Technology Kumasi, Ghana.
In 1974, he graduated and was awarded a fellowship from the French government to study Chemical Engineering at the University of Science and Technology in Montpelier, France (USTL).
While enrolled at USTL, he took part in a programme at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and received a certificate in Modeling and Simulation of Chemical Processes from the university in 1977 - he graduated from USTL with a PhD the year after.
Thomas Mensah moved to settle in the United States and took a job at Air Products and Chemicals in Allentown, Pennsylvania, from 1980 to 1983.
Mensah’s jobs in the 1980s were well suited to his strengths in basic research.
From 1983 to 1986 he worked for Corning Glass Works in its fiber optics research division in Sullivan Park, New York, where he devised a new and faster method of accomplishing a fiber optics manufacturing procedure; the draw and coating process that brought him four patents.
In 1986, Thomas Mensah joined AT&T Bell Laboratories, where he led the development of fiber optics utilized in guided missiles.
And earlier reported by YEN.com.gh noted that Thomas Mensah is the project leader for the proposed Kumasi International airport which would have an airplane maintenance hub that will create jobs for about 400,000 Ghanaians.
In other stories, YEN.com.gh previously reported that the struggles of Korsah Christian Tanor, a young Ghanaian Senior High School graduate has come to the attention of YEN.com.gh after his West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) result slip was posted on social media.
Despite completing the 2019 West African Examination Certification Examination (WASSCE) with remarkable scores, Korsah Christian Tanor faces the challenge of not being able to further his education due to financial setbacks.
The former Science student graduated from the St James’ Seminary and Senior High School (SHS) with 7A’s and a B2. He chalked all As in Elective and Core Mathematics, Integrated Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Social Studies and a B2 in English Language.
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Source: YEN.com.gh
