Patricia Bath has helped restore eyesight to countless people worldwide. | Popular Science

For Black History Month, we're putting the spotlight on people who deserve their story to be told. This is the tale of Dr. Patricia Bath, the first African-American woman to earn a medical patent: | The Root

The work of Dr. Patricia Bath helped establish the foundations of modern laser‑based eye surgery and continues to influence photonics‑driven innovation today. Beyond her inventions, Dr. Bath believed that access to vision care was a right, not a privilege. Through her pioneering work in "Community Ophthalmology," she advocated for equitable eye care worldwide, ensuring scientific progress served people, not just technology. We celebrate Dr. Bath’s legacy as a visionary scientist whose contributi

Dr Patricia Bath refused to accept blindness as inevitable. She saw inequality in eye care and decided to do something about it. Her determination led to one of the most important medical inventions of the 20th century. Born in Harlem in 1942, Patricia grew up surrounded by both hardship and hope. Her father worked on the first underwater tunnel connecting Manhattan to Long Island, while her mother cleaned houses to fund her education. Patricia excelled in science from a young age, earning a sch