William M. Jackson (chemist)

William Morgan Jackson (born September 24, 1936) is a Distinguished Research and Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at University of California, Davis and pioneer in the field of astrochemistry.

In addition to contributing research work, he is notable as a mentor and advocate for increasing minority participation in science, and was one of the founders of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE).

[4][5] He grew up in a segregated society and spent part of his childhood in Dynamite Hill, an area in Birmingham that the Ku Klux Klan frequently bombed during the Civil rights movement.

[8] At first Jackson considered majoring in mathematics, but decided to study chemistry after meeting Henry Cecil McBay.

[5] After earning his PhD in 1961, he joined the Lockheed Martin, where he worked on formaldehyde resins and ways to protect missiles as they reenter the Atmosphere of Earth.

[5][8][10] He returned to the National Institute of Standards and Technology as a postdoctoral researcher, studying how radiant energy impacted chemical structures.

[5][12] At the University of Pittsburgh, he worked with Wade Fite and Ted Brackman on the detection of electron impact on molecules using mass spectrometry.

[5] Jackson agreed to teach his course for the rest of the term and was subsequently appointed to a joint position in chemistry and physics.

Despite having left Goddard Space Flight Center, Jackson served as team leader for the International Ultraviolet Explorer telescope, which observed Halley's Comet.

[11] By building laser systems in the laboratory, Jackson helped to establish the excited states of molecules that are present in planetary atmospheres.

[17] He has served in various capacities for the NOBCChE, attending every annual meeting other than one (San Diego, 1999) in protest of the 1996 California Proposition 209.

[17] He provided evidence to Congress in an effort to increase research funding to historically black colleges and universities.

While at UC Davis, he secured funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and increased the department's minority student population to about 15% of the academic cohort.