today’s scientist is a mathematician named katherine johnson, whose calculations formed the backbone for many space expeditions during her time as a nasa employee.
johnson was born in west virginia, where her brilliance and aptitude for science showed itself at a young age. she jumped ahead several grades in school, graduating high school at the age of 14 and enrolling in west virginia state for college. there, she took every available math course, and even had new mathematics courses added to the curriculum. she graduated at age 18 with degrees in french and mathematics. after the court ruling missouri ex rel. gaines v canada, johnson became one of three african american students to study at the newly integrated west virginia university graduate program, though she quit a year later after becoming pregnant. johnson took several various teaching jobs before accepting a position at the national advisory committee for aeronautics (naca). though she initially worked in an all-women pool of human computers, johnson was soon re-assigned to a largely white male-staffed flight research team. in accordance with federal workplace segregation laws, johnson and other african americans at naca were separated from their white peers, and their office was termed the “colored computers”.
the colored computing pool was disbanded in 1958 after naca was superseded by nasa. johnson began working as an aerospace technologist, and her calculations were involved in several nasa missions:
-she calculated the trajectory for alan shepard’s first flight in 1961, marking the first american astronaut in space. later that year, she calculated the launch window for his mercury mission, and helped ensure that the freedom 7 capsule would be found quickly.
-she was called upon to review the calculations for john glenn’s orbit around earth, which were the first nasa calculations done with digital computers. in fact, glenn refused to fly unless johnson specifically reviewed the calculations.
-in 1969, johnson helped calculate the trajectory for the apollo 11 flight to the moon.
-in 1970, her work on backup procedures and charts helped ensure the apollo 13 crew’s safe return to earth after the mission was aborted.
in her later years, johnson also worked on the space shuttle program and the earth resources technology satellite. for her work, johnson was awarded the presidential medal of freedom by president barack obama in 2015.
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"We needed to be assertive as women in those days – assertive and aggressive – and the degree to which we had to be that way depended on where you were. I had to be.”
-Katherine Johnson
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"Katherine G. Johnson refused to be limited by society's expectations of her gender and race while expanding the boundaries of humanity's reach.”
-President Barack Obama
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(written 3/19/21)
