Katherine Johnson, groundbreaking NASA mathematician who was depicted in 'Hidden Figures,' dies at 101
Katherine Johnson, the venerated NASA mathematician who was depicted in the film “Hidden Figures,” died Monday, NASA said in a tweet. She was 101.
“Ms. Johnson helped our nation enlarge the frontiers of space even as she made huge strides that also opened doors for women and people of color in the universal human quest to explore space,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine“At NASA we will never forget her courage and leadership and the milestones we could not have reached without her.”
Her groundbreaking contributions to bringing Americans in space were plenty: Johnson worked on the first NASA mission in 1961 to carry an American, Alan Shepard, into space. In 1962, she verified computer calculations that plotted John Glenn’s orbits around earth., Glenn entrusted Johnson to calculate the trajectories by hand more than the state-of-the-art computers available at the time, which were often prone to breaking down.
Over the course of her 33-year career, Johnson also contributed to Apollo missions, helped the agency transition to computers and went on to win five NASA Langley Research Center Special Achievement awards. She retired in 1986.Born in West Sulphur Springs, West Virginia in 1918, Johnson made history, per NASA, by becoming the first black woman to integrate the graduate schools at West Virginia University.
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