BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : DR RONALD ERVIN McNair Ph.D. AFRICAN AMERICAN PHYSICIST AND NASA ASTRONAUT : GAVE HIS LIFE FOR THE NATION : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS"

Ronald Ervin McNair, Ph.D., (October 21, 1950 – January 28, 1986) was a physicist and NASA astronaut. McNair died during the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-51-L.
Born in Lake City, South Carolina, he was raised by his parents, Pearl M. and Carl C. McNair, and had two brothers, Carl S. and Eric A. McNair. In the summer of 1959, he refused to leave the segregated Lake City Public Library without being allowed to check out his books. After the police and his mother were called, he was allowed to borrow books from the Library, which is now named after him. A child's book, Ron's Big Mission, offers a fictionalized account of this event. McNair graduated as valedictorian of Carver High School in 1967.
In 1971 he received a bachelor's degree in engineering physics, magna cum laude, from North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, North Carolina. McNair was a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. In 1976, he received his Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under guidance of Prof. Michael Feld, becoming nationally recognized for his work in the field of laser physics. He received three honorary doctorates, a score of fellowships and commendations and achieved a black belt in karate. After graduation from MIT, he became a staff physicist at the Hughes Research Lab in Malibu, California.

Astronaut candidates Ronald McNair, Guion Bluford, and Frederick Gregory

In 1978, McNair was selected as one of thirty-five applicants from a pool of ten thousand for the NASA astronaut program. He flew on STS-41-B aboard Challenger in February 1984, as a mission specialist becoming the second African American to fly in space. Following this mission, McNair was selected for STS-51-L, which launched on January 28, 1986, and was subsequently killed when Challenger disintegrated nine miles above the Atlantic Ocean just 73 seconds after liftoff.
McNair was an accomplished saxophonist. Before his fateful last space shuttle mission he had worked with composer Jean Michel Jarre on a piece of music for Jarre's then-upcoming album Rendez-Vous. It was intended that he would record his saxophone solo on board the Challenger, which would have made McNair's solo the first original piece of music to have been recorded in space (although the song "Jingle Bells" had been played on a harmonica during an earlier Gemini 6 spaceflight.) However, the recording was never made as the flight ended in disaster and the deaths of its entire crew. The last of the Rendez-Vous pieces, (Last Rendez-Vous) had the additional name "Ron's Piece". Ron McNair was supposed to take part in the concert through a live feed.

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Dr. Ronald E. McNair memorial in his hometown, Lake City, South Carolina

Dr. Ronald E. McNair tomb in his hometown, Lake City, South Carolina

Ronald McNair Park in Brooklyn, New York City

Ronald E. McNair South Central Police Station of the Houston Police Department in Houston, Texas

A variety of public places and people have been renamed in honor of McNair.

• The crater McNair on the Moon is named in his honor.
• Watson Chapel Jr. High was renamed the R. McNair Jr. High School in his honor.
• Ronald McNair Boulevard in Lake City, South Carolina is named in his honor and lies near other streets named for astronauts who perished in the Challenger crash.
• The U.S. Department of Education offers the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program for students with low income, first generation students, and/or underrepresented students in graduate education for doctorate education.
• In Florence, South Carolina, there is a Ronald McNair Math and Science Center at the Francis Marion University.
• On January 29, 2011, the Lake City, South Carolina, library was dedicated as the Ronald McNair Life History Center.^[2] When Ronald McNair was nine, the police and his mother were called because he wished to check out books from this library, which served only white patrons before he arrived. He said, "I'll wait," to the lady and sat on the counter until the police and his mother arrived, and the policer said, "Why don't you just give him the books?" which the lady behind the counter reluctantly did. He said, "Thank you, M'am," as he got the books.