2/24/20
Katherine Johnson, ‘hidden figure’ at NASA during 1960s space race, dies at 101
Breaking Newstags: obituaries, African American history, NASA, womens history
When Katherine Johnson began working at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in 1953, she was classified as “subprofessional,” not far outranking a secretary or janitor.
Hers was a labor not of scheduling or cleaning but rather of mathematics: using a slide rule or mechanical calculator in complex calculations to check the work of her superiors — engineers who, unlike her, were white and male.
Her title, poached by the technology that would soon make the services of many of her colleagues obsolete, was “computer.”
Mrs. Johnson, who died Feb. 24 at 101, went on to develop equations that helped the NACA and its successor, NASA, send astronauts into orbit and, later, to the moon. In 26 signed reports for the space agency, and in many more papers that bore others’ signatures on her work, she codified mathematical principles that remain at the core of human space travel.
comments powered by Disqus
News
- 1989-2001: America's "Lost Weekend" When the Nation Blew its Shot at Peace and Prosperity
- Before the Tragedy, Uvalde Was the Site of a Major School Walkout. Will That History Be Lost?
- Preserving Local History in Water Valley, Mississippi
- The Belated Return of Lumumba's Tooth Shows the Tenacity of Colonialism
- The Labor Upsurge Calls Us to Rethink Organizing Rules