Elmer Imes
E308275
Elmer Imes was an American physicist renowned as one of the first African Americans to earn a Ph.D. in physics and for his pioneering work in molecular spectroscopy.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Elmer Imes canonical | 2 |
| Elmer Samuel Imes | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T2483857 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Elmer Imes Context triple: [Nella Larsen, spouse, Elmer Imes]
-
A.
Zelmo Beaty
Zelmo Beaty was an American professional basketball center and Hall of Famer known for his dominant play in both the NBA and ABA during the 1960s and early 1970s.
-
B.
Louie L. Wainwright
Louie L. Wainwright was the Director of the Florida Division of Corrections who became historically notable as the named state official in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Gideon v. Wainwright, which established the right to counsel for indigent defendants.
-
C.
Harold McCord
Harold McCord was a film editor active during the silent film era, known for his work on early American cinema.
-
D.
William Drinkard
William Drinkard is a gospel singer best known as a member of the influential family group The Drinkard Singers, which helped shape mid-20th-century American gospel music.
-
E.
Fred C. Dobbs
Fred C. Dobbs is the desperate, increasingly paranoid prospector at the center of the 1948 film "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre."
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Elmer Imes Target entity description: Elmer Imes was an American physicist renowned as one of the first African Americans to earn a Ph.D. in physics and for his pioneering work in molecular spectroscopy.
-
A.
Zelmo Beaty
Zelmo Beaty was an American professional basketball center and Hall of Famer known for his dominant play in both the NBA and ABA during the 1960s and early 1970s.
-
B.
Louie L. Wainwright
Louie L. Wainwright was the Director of the Florida Division of Corrections who became historically notable as the named state official in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Gideon v. Wainwright, which established the right to counsel for indigent defendants.
-
C.
Harold McCord
Harold McCord was a film editor active during the silent film era, known for his work on early American cinema.
-
D.
William Drinkard
William Drinkard is a gospel singer best known as a member of the influential family group The Drinkard Singers, which helped shape mid-20th-century American gospel music.
-
E.
Fred C. Dobbs
Fred C. Dobbs is the desperate, increasingly paranoid prospector at the center of the 1948 film "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre."
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (45)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
African-American scientist
ⓘ
American physicist ⓘ person ⓘ physicist ⓘ |
| academicDegree |
Bachelor's degree in science
ⓘ
Master's degree in science ⓘ Ph.D. in physics ⓘ |
| contributedTo | experimental confirmation of quantum theory through molecular spectra ⓘ |
| countryOfCitizenship | United States of America ⓘ |
| dateOfBirth | 1883-10-12 ⓘ |
| dateOfDeath | 1941-09-11 ⓘ |
| doctoralAdvisor | Harrison M. Randall NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| educatedAt |
Fisk University
ⓘ
University of Michigan ⓘ |
| employer | Fisk University ⓘ |
| ethnicGroup |
African American
ⓘ
linked to:
Black Americans
|
| familyName | Imes ⓘ |
| fieldOfWork |
molecular spectroscopy
ⓘ
physics ⓘ |
| fullName |
Elmer Samuel Imes
ⓘ
linked to:
Elmer Imes
|
| gender | male ⓘ |
| givenName | Elmer ⓘ |
| influenced | development of modern molecular spectroscopy ⓘ |
| knownFor |
being among the first African Americans to earn a Ph.D. in physics
ⓘ
pioneering work in molecular spectroscopy ⓘ |
| languageSpoken | English ⓘ |
| marriageEnd | 1930s ⓘ |
| marriageStart | 1923 ⓘ |
| notableAchievement | helped establish experimental basis for quantum mechanics via molecular spectra ⓘ |
| notableAs | second African American to earn a Ph.D. in physics in the United States ⓘ |
| notableWork | high-resolution infrared spectra of diatomic molecules ⓘ |
| occupation |
physicist
ⓘ
university professor ⓘ |
| placeOfBirth | Memphis, Tennessee, United States ⓘ |
| placeOfDeath |
New York City, New York, United States
ⓘ
linked to:
New York City
|
| positionHeld | professor of physics at Fisk University ⓘ |
| race | Black ⓘ |
| researchInterest |
infrared spectroscopy
ⓘ
molecular structure ⓘ |
| significantPublication | precision measurements of the infrared absorption bands of diatomic gases ⓘ |
| spouse | Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander ⓘ |
| workedOn | rotational-vibrational spectra of molecules ⓘ |
| workLocation |
Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
ⓘ
linked to:
Ann Arbor
Nashville, Tennessee, United States ⓘ New York City, New York, United States ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Elmer Imes Description of subject: Elmer Imes was an American physicist renowned as one of the first African Americans to earn a Ph.D. in physics and for his pioneering work in molecular spectroscopy.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.