The earliest of these publications made Johnson one of the first women at NASA to become a named author or co-author on an agency report, according to Margalit Fox at the New York Times.
Her work fueled innumerable feats of aeronautics, several of which were outlined in the 26 research papers Johnson published over her decades-long career. And if she says the computer is right, I’ll take it.” “When he got ready to go,” Johnson said of Glenn, “he said, ‘Call her. So trusted were her calculations that astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, considered them an integral part of his preflight checklist-even after the equations had been transferred over to modern electronic machines. Striking out during “a time when computers wore skirts,” she once said, Johnson quickly proved her incomparable worth. “My dad taught us, ‘You are as good as anybody in this town, but you're no better.’ I don't have a feeling of inferiority. “I didn't have time for that,” she told NASA in an interview from her home in Hampton, Virginia in 2008. Along with the agency’s other female African American mathematicians, she worked in quarters separated from a much larger pool of white women “computers,” who were in turn kept away from their male colleagues.īut Johnson’s consignment did little to hold her back. Relegated to an office marked “Colored Computers,” Johnson spent her first five years at NACA dealing with a double dose of segregation. In 1953, Johnson-then Katherine Goble-began work at Langley Research Center at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), which later became NASA, where she would stay until her retirement in 1986. But her mentor, William Waldron Schieffelin Claytor-who was reportedly the third African American to receive a doctorate in math-persuaded his bright young student to change fields. “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.”Īfter graduating high school at age 14, Johnson enrolled at West Virginia State College with plans to pursue a career as a teacher.
“I counted everything,” she once proclaimed. Make a straw rocket to investigate how changing the launch angle of a straw rocket changes the flight trajectory.NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, who developed equations that helped the United States launch its first astronaut into space in 1961 and safely plant Apollo 11 on the moon in 1969, died this morning at age 101.īorn Katherine Coleman in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, on August 26, 1918-a date that now commemorates Women’s Equality Day-Johnson showed an early prediliction for math. She passed away in February 2020 at the age of 101. Katherine worked for NASA for over 30 years before retiring in 1986. Katherine also worked on the space shuttle program and in the later part of her career spent time inspiring students to follow a STEM Career. Katherine calculated the trajectory for the 1961 space flight of Alan Shepherd and when computers were first used it was Katherine who checked their calculations were correct!! These were women mathematicians who performed calculations that allowed NASA firstly, to put astronauts safely into orbit then onto the Moon! Katherine was one of the NASA “human computers”. She was the first African-American woman to attend graduate school at West Virginia University and is known for her work on the United States’ aeronautics and space programs. Katherine Johnson was an African American physicist and mathematician.
#Katherine johnson nasa scientist free
She opened doors and created pathways for women and people of colour in STEM fields, leaving behind the most incredible legacy.Īt the bottom of this post is a FREE downloadable fact file and suggested activity related to Katherine Johnson’s work. Katherine’s work was mostly unrecognised until very late in her life.
The first scientist we’re going to learn about is the wonderful Katherine Johnson. I’m going to highlight just a few of these pioneering women together with some simple science ideas related to their work. Women throughout history have made huge contributions to science, technology, engineering and maths fields, but have often been overlooked.
#Katherine johnson nasa scientist series
Welcome to the first post in a new series about inspirational women scientists.
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