Women were thought to be detail-oriented and accurate, thus well-suited to the job. In fact, in contrast to today's male-dominated tech world, math and computing were seen at the time as women's work. In the '40s, '50s, and '60s, NASA hired women to do the complex mathematical work that computers do today. RELATED: 10 Space Adventure Books That Will Have You on the Edge of Your Seat Vaughan and Mary Jackson, respectively. The film went on to be nominated for three Academy Awards. Henson as Johnson, and Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe as her colleagues Dorothy K. Shetterly's book was also adapted into a critically acclaimed 2016 movie starring Taraji P. Her work is celebrated in Margot Lee Shetterly's 2016 non-fiction book Hidden Figures, which recounts how Black women mathematicians helped NASA win the space race, and the racism and sexism they faced along the way. In recent years, though, Johnson’s role in history has been documented in books and on the big screen, as well as recognized through presidential accolades. Johnson-spent 33 years working at NASA, during which she not only paved the way for women of color working in STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering, and Math) but also blazed humanity a trail to the stars.įive years ago, it seemed as though the world barely remembered Johnson's accomplishments as one of the Black women who worked as a 'human computer' at NASA beginning in the 1950s. Underrated American icon Katherine Johnson - also known as Katherine Goble Johnson or Katherine G. In honor of her incredible life, we're looking back at her astounding achievements with these ten extraordinary facts about Katherine Johnson. Johnson shaped the future of humanity, both on Earth and in space. NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine shared a tribute to Johnson on social media at the time, calling her "an American hero" whose legacy would be remembered long after her death. The groundbreaking space race heroine died on February 24th, 2020. It’s the same.Pioneering mathematician Katherine Johnson lived to be 101. If I gave you that answer last year, it’s the same now. And it was a joy to contribute to the literature that was going to be coming out.īut you know, math is the same. I like the stars and the stories we were telling. The main thing is I liked what I was doing. I didn’t do anything alone but try to go to the root of the question – and succeeded there. Her calculations proved critical to the success of the Apollo Moon landings and the start of the Space Shuttle program. Katherine continued to work at NASA until 1986. But when they went to computers, they called over and said, "Tell her to check and see if the computer trajectory they had calculated was correct." So I checked it, and it was correct. You could do much more, much faster on the computer. You tell me when you want it and where you want it to land, and I'll do it backward and tell you when to take off." That was my forte.Įven after NASA had electronic computers, John Glenn requested that Katherine personally recheck the computer calculations before his 1962 Friendship 7 flight – the first American mission to orbit Earth. As a human computer, Katherine calculated the trajectory for astronaut Alan Shepard’s 1961 Freedom 7 mission to space – the first spaceflight for an American.Įarly on, when they said they wanted the capsule to come down at a certain place, they were trying to compute when it should start.
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