In July 1967, two Nigerian women connected to physics and geophysics appeared in one of the important international records of women in science. Deborah Enilo Ajakaiye and Ebun Adegbohungbe were photographed at the banquet of the Second International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists, held in Cambridge, United Kingdom. The image, preserved in the Women’s Engineering Society archive and later discussed by the IET Archives, shows Ajakaiye on the left and Adegbohungbe on the right.
The photograph is more than a conference memory. It belongs to the wider history of Nigerian science, African women in higher education, and the international networks that helped women scientists enter spaces where they had often been overlooked. At a time when very few African women appeared in formal scientific archives, the Cambridge record preserved the presence of two Nigerian women whose careers would remain connected to physics, geophysics and university teaching.
A Nigerian Scientific Presence in Cambridge
The Second International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists took place in Cambridge in July 1967. It was organised by the Women’s Engineering Society in the United Kingdom and brought together women from different countries who worked in engineering, science and related fields. The conference was not limited to engineers alone, which is important when discussing Ajakaiye and Adegbohungbe. The surviving records connect both women to physics and geophysics, not to engineering as a profession.
Their appearance at the conference came at a significant time. Nigeria had gained independence in 1960, less than seven years before the Cambridge event. July 1967 was also the month in which the Nigerian Civil War began. The conference photograph should not be turned into a political symbol beyond what the sources show, but its timing gives it added historical weight. It shows Nigerian women scientists participating in an international professional gathering during a period when the country itself was entering one of the most difficult chapters of its modern history.
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Ebun Adegbohungbe and the Application of Physics to Nigeria’s Problems
Ebun Adegbohungbe’s role at the conference is especially clear. She was not only photographed at the banquet, she also contributed to the programme. Her paper was titled “Application of Physics to some Economic Problems in Nigeria.” The paper appeared under the conference section connected to food supply and economic development.
That title alone shows the seriousness of her work. Adegbohungbe was not presenting physics as an abstract subject removed from society. She was linking scientific knowledge to Nigerian development, especially agriculture, food supply, mineral resources and industrial progress. Her paper placed Nigerian economic questions inside an international scientific discussion, and it showed how physics could be used to address practical national needs.
Her later life gives the Cambridge record deeper meaning. Adegbohungbe later became Professor Ebun A. Oni. The University of Ibadan records her as Prof. Ebun A. Oni, née Adegbohungbe, a retired member of the Department of Physics, Faculty of Science. She was born in Ilesa, Osun State, in 1935 and died on 2 December 2021 at the age of 86.
Her education reflected the international academic networks of her generation. She studied at University College, Legon, Ghana, from 1957 to 1960, where she obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and mathematics. She then proceeded to Imperial College London, where she obtained a Diploma of the Imperial College in Pure Geophysics in 1962, a Master of Science in 1963 and a doctorate degree from the University of London in 1967.
After returning to Nigeria, she built a long university career. She began at the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, in August 1963. On 1 October 1968, she joined the Department of Physics at the University of Ibadan, where she served until her retirement on 30 September 2000. The University of Ibadan also records that she was a former Acting Head and Head of the Department of Physics.
Deborah Ajakaiye and the Nigerian Greeting at ICWES
Deborah Enilo Ajakaiye’s role at the 1967 conference was different from Adegbohungbe’s. The IET Archives records that Ajakaiye presented greetings from Nigeria at the conference. She would later become one of the most recognised figures in African physics and geophysics.
Ajakaiye was born in Jos in 1940 and studied physics at the University of Ibadan, graduating in 1962. She later obtained a master’s degree from the University of Birmingham in England and received her PhD in geophysics from Ahmadu Bello University in 1970.
Her professorship came after the Cambridge event. The Archive of the Notable Nigerian Physical Scientists records that she became a professor of physics in 1980, making her the first female physics professor in Africa. The University of Lagos also described her in 2025 as Africa’s first female professor of physics when its Department of Physics hosted her for an interaction with students and faculty.
Ajakaiye’s scientific work has been associated with geophysics, geovisualisation, mineral exploration and groundwater studies. Her work contributed to the use of geophysical knowledge in understanding Nigeria’s mineral and earth science potential. She also taught at Ahmadu Bello University and the University of Jos, where she served as Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences.
Why the Photograph Matters
The Cambridge banquet photograph matters because it captures an early professional moment before later titles and achievements became attached to the names of both women. Ajakaiye had not yet completed the PhD she would receive in 1970. Adegbohungbe was still publicly known by her birth surname, before later records associated her with the name Professor Ebun A. Oni.
The photograph also shows something larger than two individual careers. It shows Nigerian women scientists inside an international community of women engineers and scientists in the 1960s. This was a period when women in technical fields often had to work harder for recognition, funding and professional space. For African women, the obstacles were even greater because their work was often underrepresented in global archives.
The photograph does not need exaggeration to be important. It shows that two Nigerian women linked to physics and geophysics were present at a major international gathering of women in science and engineering, and one of them gave a paper directly connecting physics to Nigeria’s economic development.
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A Shared Place in Nigerian Science History
Ajakaiye and Adegbohungbe followed different career paths, but their stories meet at an important point: both belonged to the early generation of Nigerian women who entered advanced scientific study and university teaching. Their work reflected the needs of a newly independent country that required trained scientists, lecturers, researchers and administrators.
Adegbohungbe, later Oni, contributed to physics teaching and research at the University of Ibadan for more than three decades. Ajakaiye became one of the best known names in African physics and geophysics, especially because of her landmark professorship and her contributions to earth science.
Their 1967 appearance in Cambridge should therefore be remembered with care. It is a documented historical moment, and that is what gives it strength. It places Nigerian women scientists in the international record at a time when their presence was rare, valuable and easy to overlook.
Author’s Note
The story of Deborah Ajakaiye and Ebun Adegbohungbe reminds us that history is often preserved first in quiet records before it becomes widely recognised. A single conference photograph from Cambridge does not tell the whole story of Nigerian women in science, but it opens a window into the lives of two women whose careers helped strengthen physics, geophysics and university scholarship in Nigeria. Their presence in that 1967 record should be remembered through the lasting power of what their lives and work clearly represent.
References
IET Archives Blog, “Saluting our sisters: a 1960s gathering of international women engineers.”
Electrifying Women, University of Leeds, “ICWES 2 Proceedings, 1967.”
University of Ibadan Bulletin, Special Release 4467, “Obituary, Professor Ebun A. Oni.”
University of Lagos, “Pioneering Physicist, Prof. Deborah Ajakaiye, Inspires Students and Faculty at UNILAG.”
Archive of the Notable Nigerian Physical Scientists, “Biography of Distinguished Professor Deborah Enilo Ajakaiye.”
