The HistoryMakers

Research physicist Darnell Eugene Diggs was born on May 20, 1970 in Tuskegee, Alabama to Janie Mae Davenport Diggs and John Diggs. Diggs and his twin sister were the youngest in a family of fifteen children. He attended Pike County Elementary and High School where he was registered in advanced placement classes and played the trumpet in the school marching band.

Diggs followed in his family's tradition by enrolling at Alabama A&M University in Normal, Alabama. While a freshman, he majored in business management and sang in the university choir. Diggs changed his major to physics at the end of his sophomore year after performing well in a physical science class. He graduated with his B.S. degree in physics in 1988. Inspired by members of the National Conference of Black Physics Students and the Society of Physics Students where he served as president, Diggs remained at Alabama A&M University and earned his M.S. degree in physics in 1997. After holding internships at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Alabama, Diggs earned his Ph.D. in physics in 2001.

Diggs was hired by the United States Air Force Research Laboratory as a research physicist in 2002. Here, he works to improve polymer-based electro-optic modulators that provide critical advantages over devices made from other materials. Diggs' work proved crucial to the development of new optoelectronic devices by the United States Air Force and as a vital element of the country's national defense. Through his work, Diggs collaborates with Tyndall Air Force Base, Georgia Tech Research Institute, the Army Strategic Missile Command, the University of Dayton and Alabama A&M University.

In 2004, Diggs received the Black Engineer Award in the category of most promising scientist in government. That same year, he was named to the Top 50 Most Important Blacks in Research Science. Diggs also received the Top Minority in Science Trailblazer Award; he was also encouraged and recognized along with Edward Alexander Bouchet as one of five Distinguished African American physicists in the World for the Year of Physics 2005 Celebration of Albert Einstein. In 2006, Diggs was invited to speak at the U.S. Air Force & Taiwan Nanoscience Initiative held in Taipei, Taiwan, and that following year, in 2007 he became president of the Dayton Alumni Extension for the National Society of Black Engineers.

Diggs' other affiliations include Optical Society of America and the National Society of Black Engineers.

Diggs lives in Dayton, Ohio and is an ordained Elder in the Church of God in Christ.

Diggs was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on February 22, 2008.