Loyiso nongxa biography of mahatma

Because of his eye defect, he really struggled with some of the basic experimentation and laboratory work required during his undergraduate studies.

Wits Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Prof.

He then turned his attention to the symbolic black-and-whiteness of mathematics. A loss to the chemistry world, however, turned out to be a win for mathematics and South African academia. Last year, he retired as professor and chairperson of the National Research Foundation. He was the one that his fellow pupils at Healdtown College near Fort Beaufort turned to him to run them through their science subjects.

Sometimes he even had to set the tests that they all had to write. Premedical studies at the University of Fort Hare followed, but by his third year Nongxa realised he needed a change of plan. They put me onto titration. For the rest of his three weeks in the Cape, he ended up being the skivvy to someone doing a first-year diploma at the local Technikon.

He finally realised that he was much more at peace working on a maths problem, and that laboratory work actually stressed him.

In addition to the Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Prof.

His colour blindness, ultimately, made him chose a different career path. On a lighter note, it has had some other drawbacks too. I cannot distinguish between various shades of brown, blue and pink. Nongxa tells the story of how he became a mathematician after we had both been listening to a panel discussion on gender and minority representation in the maths and computer science spheres.

It was presented as part of the 7 th Heidelberg Laureate Forum in Germany. In , he became the first black South African to receive a prestigious Rhodes scholarship now known as the Mandela Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University.