Francis Kofi Ampenyin Allotey (August 9, 1932 – November 2, 2017) was one of Africa’s most influential physicists and co-founder of the African Physical Society. His works had profound impact on society and industry, particularly in the fields of science, mathematics, and technology.
Francis Kofi Ampenyin Allotey was born and raised in Saltpond in Ghana. His interest in science began while a child, as after school he would help his father stock his shop, which included many books. Allotey dipped into these books and was inspired by them, particularly the study of mathematics and physics, to explain the workings of the universe.
He attended St. John the Baptist Catholic Boys School in Saltpond for his primary education and later enrolled at Ghana National College in Cape Coast at the age of 16. After his schooling in Ghana, Allotey studied first at the London Borough Polytechnic before studying at Imperial College London, where in 1960 he was awarded the Diploma of Imperial College. Whilst at Imperial, Allotey began working on X-ray spectroscopy. This work continued after moving to Princeton for his doctorate studies, where he was awarded his PhD in 1966. Allotey’s groundbreaking research focused on the effects of electron-hole scattering resonance on the X-ray emission spectrum, and his seminal paper on this topic was published in the Physical Review Journal in May 1967. This work resulted in the Allotey Formalism, a technique used to determine matter in outer space and which earned him international recognition.
Allotey declined to take part in the diaspora of African scientists who sought
academic positions abroad and returned to Ghana in 1966. He took up a teaching appointment at the mathematics department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). Among his many academic achievements, he became Ghana’s first full Professor of Mathematics in 1974. In addition, Allotey created the first dedicated University Computer Science Department in Africa at KNUST, and would travel around the continent espousing the benefits of studying Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science.
During his career, Allotey was the President of the Ghana Institute of Physics, a founder of the Ghana Physical Society, and President of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences. He always maintained his passion for science education and organized annual maths and physics activities in Ghana to which anyone from Africa was welcome. He was awarded the Millennium Excellence Award in 2005 by the Government of Ghana, and this award was also commemorated by a postage stamp. In 2009 he was awarded Ghana’s Order of the Volta for Outstanding Contribution to Science and Science Education, and in 2012 helped to establish the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Ghana.
Allotey worked with UNESCO to mobilize international partnerships to see to fruition the International Year of Physics in 2005 and the International Year of Light in 2015, both of which were declared at the UN General Assembly.
Francis Allotey died on November 2, 2017, in his homeland Ghana, marking the end of a remarkable life dedicated to scientific excellence, education, and public service.
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