NASA Mathematician & Rocket Scientist Katherine Johnson NASA Mathematician & Rocket Scientist

Early Childhood: Born Katherine Coleman on August 26, 1918 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia Her father worked as a lumberman, a farmer, a handyman, and at the Greenbrier Hotel. Mom was a school teacher One of the four children in her family. From an early age on, she showed a gift for learning math. Known as “The girl who loves to count.” Source: Wikipedia

Education: 1932 – West Virginia State High School She had to go to a high school in Institute, WV, that is 120 miles from where she lived. completed high school at the age of 14 (a child prodigy) 1937 – West Virginia State College, BS summa cum laude in mathematics and French She took every Math course that was offered there. Professors had to add math courses to satisfy her drive to learn math.Graduated at the age of 18. 1940 – West Virginia University graduate program in mathematics Source: Wikipedia

Work Experience: 1936–1952 Teacher in rural Virginia and West Virginia high schools and elementary schools 1952–1953 Substitute math teacher for Newport News, VA, public schools 1953–1986 NASA Langley Research Center, Virginia 1953–1958 Computer (mathematician), Langley Research Center with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) 1958–1986 Aerospace Technologist, NASA Source: Wikepedia

Major contributions as an African-American woman pioneer in STEM (STEAM) “Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson is an American physicist, space scientist, and mathematician. She made fundamental contributions to the United States' aeronautics and space programs with the early application of digital electronic computers at NASA. Known for accuracy in computerized celestial navigation, her technical leadership work at NASA spanned decades where she calculated the trajectories, launch windows and emergency back-up return paths for many flights from Project Mercury including the early NASA missions of John Glenn, Alan Shepard, the 1969 Apollo 11 flight to the Moon and continued work through the Space Shuttle program and on early plans for the Mission to Mars.” Source: Wikipedia

NASA Career “Johnson began her career in 1953 at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the agency that preceded NASA, one of a number of African-American women hired to work as "computers" in what was then their Guidance and Navigation Department. Johnson worked at Langley from 1953 until her retirement in 1986, making critical technical contributions which included calculating the trajectory of the 1961 flight of Alan Shepard, the first American in space. She is also credited with verifying the calculations made by early electronic computers of John Glenn’s 1962 launch to orbit and the 1969 Apollo 11 trajectory to the moon. Johnson worked on the Space Shuttle Program and the Earth Resources Satellite and encouraged students to pursue careers in science and technology.”-NASA. gov

Known as a virtual “computer who wore skirts” According to an oral history archived by the National Visionary Leadership Project: At first she worked in a pool of technical women performing math calculations, known as computors. Katherine has referred to the women in the pool as virtual "computers who wore skirts." Their main job was to read the data from the black boxes of planes and carry out other precise mathematical tasks. Then one day, Katherine (and a colleague) were temporarily assigned to help the all-male flight research team. Katherine's knowledge of analytic geometry helped make quick allies of male bosses and colleagues to the extent that "they forgot to return me to the pool." While the racial and gender barriers were always there, Katherine says she ignored them. Katherine was assertive, asking to be included in editorial meetings (where no women had gone before.) She simply told people she had done the work and that she belonged. Source: Wikipedia

Known as “a virtual computer who wore skirts” NASA research mathematician Katherine Johnson is photographed at her desk at Langley Research Center in 1966. Johnson began her career in 1953 at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the agency that preceded NASA, one of a number of African-American women hired to work as "computers" in what was then their Guidance and Navigation Department, just as the NACA was beginning its work on space. Johnson became known for her training in geometry, her leadership, and her inquisitive nature; she was the only woman at the time to be pulled from the computing pool to work with engineers on other programs. Johnson worked at Langley from 1953 until her retirement in 1986, making critical technical contributions which included calculating the trajectory of the 1961 flight of Alan Shepard, the first American in space. "The early trajectory was a parabola, and it was easy to predict where it would be at any point," Johnson said. "Early on, when they said they wanted the capsule to come down at a certain place, they were trying to compute when it should start. I said, 'Let me do it. You tell me when you want it and where you want it to land, and I'll do it backwards and tell you when to take off.' That was my forte." Johnson is also known for verifying the calculations made by electronic computers of John Glenn’s 1962 launch to orbit and the 1969 Apollo 11 trajectory to the moon. She also worked on the space shuttle program and the Earth Resources Satellite and encouraged students to pursue careers in science and technology. Source: NASA.gov

The most significant Achievement: 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom “Katherine Johnson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama on Nov. 24, 2015. On May 5, 2016, she returned to NASA Langley, on the 55th anniversary of Shepard's historic flight, to attend a ceremony where a $30 million, 40,000-square-foot Computational Research Facility was named in her honor. As part of the event, Johnson also received a Silver Snoopy award from Leland Melvin, an astronaut and former NASA associate administrator for education. Often called the astronaut’s award, the Silver Snoopy goes to people who have made outstanding contributions to flight safety and mission success.”-NASA.gov

The Girl who loves to Count “I counted everything. I counted the steps to the road, the steps up to church, the number of dishes and silverware I washed … anything that could be counted, I did.” -Katherine Johnson, recipient of the 2015 National Medal of Freedom.

Famous quotes:

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

References: http://www.makers.com/katherine-g-johnson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Johnson http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/a-lifetime-of-stem.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdr9QBRcPEk

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