Angie Lena Turner King

Angie Lena Turner King (December 9, 1905 – February 28, 2004) was an American chemist, mathematician, and educator. King was an instructor of chemistry and mathematics at West Virginia State High School, and a professor of chemistry and mathematics at West Virginia State College (present-day West Virginia State University) in Institute.

Born in the segregated coal-mining community of Elkhorn in McDowell County, West Virginia in 1905, she had a difficult childhood following her mother's death when she was eight years old. King graduated from high school at age 14 in 1919, and studied at Bluefield Colored Institute (present-day Bluefield State College) before transferring to West Virginia State (then known as the West Virginia Collegiate Institute). She graduated cum laude from West Virginia State in 1927 with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and mathematics. King began her career in education at West Virginia State High School, West Virginia State's laboratory high school; she attended graduate school during the summers at Cornell University, where she received a master's degree in physical chemistry in 1931.

After teaching high school for eight years, King became an associate professor at West Virginia State College and refurbished its laboratory to improve the quality of her students' scientific research. Following the outbreak of World War II, she taught chemistry to soldiers in West Virginia State's Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) unit. King later attended the University of Pittsburgh, where she became a Doctor of Philosophy in general education in 1955. She mentored several notable students, including entomologist and activist Margaret Strickland Collins, mathematician Katherine Johnson, and Jasper Brown Jeffries of the Manhattan Project. King chaired West Virginia State College's Division of Natural Resources and Mathematics before retiring from the college in 1980. She continued to live on the West Virginia State campus after her retirement, and in 1992 the school presented her with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.