Buyisiwe Sondezi

Buyisiwe Sondezi is a South African physicist. She was the first woman in Africa to obtain a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in experimental physics of highly correlated matter when she graduated at University of Johannesburg on 23 September 2014.

Academic life Buyisiwe is the first born child and a sister of ten siblings. She grew up in Newcastle and learnt science at a rural school. The school had no laboratory. "I had to picture how things are, because the school had no lab. I was just told if you mix 'one' and 'two' you get a 'three'. We relied on what the textbook said," says Dr Sondezi. She saw laboratory equipment for the first time while studying towards her degree at Vista University in Soweto, which is now part of the University of Johannesburg. Buyisiwe graduated with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Physics, Chemistry and Statistics.

She holds a Honours and master's degrees in physics, researching properties of solar cells. She started her PhD in the same direction, however, she switched the topic of her doctorate to highly correlated matter in experimental physics in 2007.

In 2009, she won the Department of Science and Technology's women in Science award

In 2012, she was named one of Mail & Guardian's 200 Young South Africans, in the Science and Technology category.

She has written publications in collaboration with various physicists based around the globe.