Dr. Thomas Mensah: All you need to know about late Ghanaian fibre optics inventor

The death of Ghanaian-American inventor, Dr. Thomas Mensah, known globally for his groundbreaking work in fiber optics was announced on Thursday, March 28, 2024.

Dr. Mensah's death occurred on March 27, 2024, at the Kumasi Catholic Hope Exchange Hospital following a brief illness.

The death of the globally acclaimed scientist was confirmed by his family on Thursday.

Below is all you need to know about him

Dr. Thomas Mensah (PhD and Professor) – Inventor of Fiber Optics and Nanotechnology Commercialization Pioneer, was the Founder and C.E.O of the Georgia Aerospace in the United States of America. Dr. Thomas Mensah (PhD and Professor) was also the Chief Executive Officer of the Silicon Valley of Ghana, Silicon Valley is the world's largest technology and innovation institution around the world.

Dr. Thomas Mensah (PhD and Professor) was one of the most powerful inventors and chemical engineers who contributed to the manufacturing of the largest Drone in the world. Dr. Thomas Mensah (PhD and Professor) was the only scientist whose invention of the Fiber Optics technology also introduced the earth planet to the Integrated Industrial Revolution which has boosted the global economy with over 85% increment turnout. He served on the MIT(Number one world ranking university) Board of Directors for five years. He worked with NASA - USA and championed STEM at NASA.

Dr. Thomas Mensah was born in Kumasi, Ashanti region of Ghana. His father J.K Mensah, was a merchant who shipped cocoa products to chocolate manufacturers in France. Mensah was fluent in French, and won the National French competition in Ghana, both at the Ordinary Level (1968) and Advanced Levels (1970) in Accra Ghana.

Mensah attended Adisadel College in Cape Coast, Ghana and completed his undergraduate studies at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. He then received a French government fellowship to study at Montpellier University in France. While there, he took part in a program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and received a certificate in Modeling and Simulation of Chemical Processes from MIT in 1977. A year later, he graduated with his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Montpelier University.

Dr. Thomas Mensah worked at Air Products and Chemicals from 1980 to 1983. In 1983, Dr. Thomas Mensah joined Corning Glass Works, working in fiber Optics research at Sullivan Park, New York. Researchers at Corning had previously developed optical fiber with loss below the crucial attenuation limit of 20 dB/km, but the fibers could not be manufactured at rates higher than 2 meters per second.

Dr. Thomas Mensah improved the manufacturing process through a series of innovations, raising the speed of manufacture to 20 meters per second by 1985. This made the cost of optical fiber comparable to traditional copper cables. Dr. Thomas Mensah received the Corning Glass Works Individual Outstanding Contributor Award for this work in 1985. His work ultimately raised the speed of manufacture above 50 meters per second.

In 1986, Dr. Thomas Mensah moved to Bell Laboratories, where he led a program to develop the first laser-guided weapons for the United States Department of Defense guided missile program. This program enabled the development of missiles that travel at the speed of sound.

Dr. Thomas Mensah is President and C.E.O of Georgia Aerospace Systems, which manufactures nanocomposite structures used in missiles and aircraft for the USA Department of Defense. On 24th February 2017 CBS Television News ran a segment for Black History Month featuring Dr. Thomas Mensah titled “The Engineer who Revolutionalized the Internet.” Dr. Thomas Mensah also served on the board of a number of organizations including the AIChE National Board of Directors(1987 - 1990) and was a Trustee of the Board of AIChE Foundation, and member of the Board for the NASA Space Grant Consortium at Georgia Institute of Technology.

Dr. Thomas Mensah was elected a Fellow USA National Academy of Inventors in 2014. He is also Chairman of Entertainment Arts Research Inc., a Virtual Reality and Video Game Design Company. Since early 2016, Dr. Thomas Mensah has been working to create a “Silicon Valley of the South” in Texas in the United States of America.

Dr. Thomas Mensah is a recipient of several awards including Turner’s Trumpet Award for Fiber Optics Innovation, Percy Julian Award, Golden Torch Award; the highest award by NSBE, William Grimes Award and Eminent Engineers award by AIChE 100. In December 2017, he received the Kwame Nkrumah Africa Genius Award in Science/Technology and Innovation in Ghana.

Dr. Thomas Mensah delivered the 10th R.P. Baffour Lecture at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology on 23rd November 2017 where he was awarded a Honoraris Causa after the lecture. In November 2015, he received the International Business Leadership Award from the African Leadership Magazin in Atlanta Georgia, USA. He has been profiled in Ebony Magazine’s edition of October 2008, March 2009 and March 2015. He served on the visiting committee in Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1988 - 1992.

Dr. Thomas Mensah published more than four books including Fiber Optics Engineering in 1987, Superconductor Engineering in 1992, his autobiography The Right Stuff Comes in Black Too in 2013 and Nanotechnology Commercialization in 2017.

In the first quarter of 2015, the government of the State of Georgia in the USA passed a House Resolution to commend Dr. Thomas Mensah and his works.

Watch the latest edition of BizHeadlines below:



Ghana’s leading digital news platform, GhanaWeb, in conjunction with the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, is embarking on an aggressive campaign which is geared towards ensuring that parliament passes comprehensive legislation to guide organ harvesting, organ donation, and organ transplantation in the country.

Click here to follow the GhanaWeb Business WhatsApp channel