What is the importance of Elmer Imes in the book, The Disordered Cosmos?

In 1918, Elmer Imes became the second Black American to earn a PhD in physics. He was the first person in human history to measure the infrared light given off by molecules, using instruments that he designed. He discovered how use color to measure color what elements composed a substance based on the light frequencies it was submitting. Much of the field of astrochemistry builds off of his work, and yet he is rarely credited or studied. He is one of the crucial “hidden figures” Prescod-Weinstein seeks to bring to light.