Johnson's accomplishments continued to be highlighted later in life. "In her 33 years at NASA, Katherine was a pioneer who broke the barriers of race and gender, showing generations of young people that everyone can excel in math and science, and reach for the stars," Obama said. President Barack Obama awarded her the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, at a 2015 White House ceremony. Johnson did calculations for the first moon landing, and later for the space shuttle program. "So the astronaut who became a hero looked to this black woman in the still-segregated South at the time as one of the key parts of making sure his mission would be a success," she told NPR in 2016.
Margot Lee Shetterly wrote the book Hidden Figures and said that Glenn considered Johnson's calculations part of his preflight checklist. And if she says the computer is right, I'll take it,' " she recalled. "But when he got ready to go, he said, 'Call her. She hand-computed the trajectory of the first manned launch and continued to be important to the astronauts.īefore John Glenn flew Friendship 7 in 1962, becoming the first American to orbit Earth, he asked Johnson to double-check the math of the "new electronic" computations. And they said, 'Well, the girls don't usually go.' and I said, 'Well, is there a law?' They said, 'No.' So then my boss said, 'Let her go.' "Īnd she never stopped going, using her extraordinary computing skills to move up the NASA chain. As Johnson told public television station WHRO in 2011, none of it held her back: "I just happened to be working with guys and when they had briefings, I asked permission to go. The women battled both racism and sexism. She was one of a handful of African American women hired to do computing in the guidance and navigation department at Langley's Research Center in Virginia. "Everybody there was doing research," she recalled in later years, "You had a mission and you worked on it." She initially became a teacher but, in 1953, took a job at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics - the agency that would become NASA. She graduated from high school at 14 and finished college with degrees in math and French from historically black West Virginia State College. Her contributions and those of other NASA African-American human computers are chronicled in Hidden Figures, based on author Margot Lee Shetterly’s book of the same name. She worked at Langley from 1953 until retiring in 1986. As a young girl, she was fascinated by numbers and it was clear early on she was gifted. The life of Johnson along with some of her fellow mathematicians was chronicled in the book, ‘Hidden Figures,’ by Margot Lee Shetterly. Johnson was a human computer at Langley who calculated trajectories for America’s first spaceflights. Johnson was born in West Virginia in 1918. "Her story and her grace continue to inspire the world." "The NASA family will never forget Katherine Johnson's courage and the milestones we could not have reached without her," Bridenstine wrote on Twitter.
Her death was announced by NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.
#Katherine johnson nasa book movie
She calculated the flight path for America's first crewed space mission and moon landing, and she was among the women profiled in the book and movie Hidden Figures. In school she quickly skipped ahead several grades and was soon studying complex equations.Katherine Johnson, a mathematician who was one of NASA's human "computers" and an unsung hero of the space agency's early days, died Monday. The Autobiography of NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson Katherine Johnson. In the early 1950s Katherine was thrilled to join the organization that would become NASA. Ad Browse Discover Thousands of Book Titles for Less. Katherines analytic geometry expertise soon made her the go-to expert for calculating flight paths including Apollo 11 s Lunar Lander trajectory. She worked on many of NASAs biggest projects including the Apollo 11. As a young girl Katherine Johnson showed an exceptional aptitude for math.Īd Orders 35 Ship Free. This rich volume is a national treasure Kirkus Reviews starred review Captivating informative and inspiringEasy to follow and hard to put down School Library. She worked on many of NASAs biggest projects including the Apollo 11 mission that landed the.
Reaching For The Moon The Autobiography Of Nasa Mathematician Katherine Johnson Johnson Katherine 9781534440845 Amazon Com Books In the early 1950s Katherine was thrilled to join the organization that would become NASA.
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