Hakeem Oluseyi

Hakeem Muata Oluseyi (born James Edward Plummer Jr.; March 13, 1967) is an American astrophysicist, cosmologist, inventor, educator, science communicator, author, actor, veteran, and humanitarian.

Early life, family and education Hakeem Oluseyi was born James Edward Plummer Jr. on March 13, 1967. After his parents divorced when he was four years old, he and his mother moved to a different state along the southern border of the US every year. They resided in some of the country's toughest neighborhoods, including the 9th Ward of New Orleans; Watts, Los Angeles, California; Inglewood, California; South Park, Houston, Texas; and Third Ward, Houston, Texas, before settling in rural Mississippi a month before Oluseyi turned 13 years old. He completed middle school and an all-black high school there, in the East Jasper School District, graduating as his high school's valedictorian in 1985.

Oluseyi served in the US Navy until 1986. He credits the Navy with teaching him algebra.

In 1991, he became a graduate student at Stanford University. From 2016 to 2019, he was stationed at NASA Headquarters in Washington DC where he was the Space Sciences education manager for NASA's Science Mission Directorate via the Intergovernmental Personnel Act Mobility Program. Oluseyi was named a Visiting Robinson Professor at George Mason University in 2021, a distinction by which the university recognizes outstanding faculty.

In 2021, he published his autobiography, A Quantum Life: My Unlikely Journey from the Street to the Stars, co-authored with Joshua Horwitz. Oluseyi was the president of the National Society of Black Physicists from 2022-2024. Since 2024 Oluseyi has been CEO of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Oluseyi also serves on the Board of Directors of Annual Reviews.

His best known scientific contributions are research on the transfer of mass and energy through the Sun's atmosphere; the development of space-borne observatories for studying astrophysical plasmas and dark energy; and the development of technologies in ultraviolet optics, detectors, computer chips, and ion propulsion.

In 2021, Oluseyi carried out an investigation into the role that former NASA administrator James Webb played in the Lavender Scare of the 1950s and 1960s, after a number of scientists and journalists had raised concerns about the naming of NASA's new space telescope after him. Contrary to the claims of Webb's critics, Oluseyi found there was no evidence that Webb was implicated. His finding was later confirmed by a full report carried out by NASA itself.

In popular culture Oluseyi appears as a commentator and scientific authority on Science Channel television shows including How the Universe Works, Outrageous Acts of Science, Curiosity, NASA's Unexplained Files, Space's Deepest Secrets, and Strip the Cosmos. He also appeared as a 'bakineering' (baking and engineering) judge on Netflix's Baking Impossible. He appeared on the National Geographic Channel show Evacuate Earth. Oluseyi appeared in the ABC special Truth and Lies: Hubris on the High Seas, which examined the Titan submersible implosion.

He contributed science articles to the news media, including The Washington Post. He lent his voice and scientific expertise to the award-winning science education video game ExoTrex: A Space Science Adventure Game in collaboration with Dig-It! Games.

He co-authored the children's popular science book Discovery Spaceopedia: The Complete Guide to Everything Space.

Family Oluseyi met his wife, Jessica, at Tougaloo College. They have a daughter. Oluseyi has a son from an earlier relationship.