fredscience: [image] The Computer Wore a Skirt: Katherine Johnson Katherine Johnson finished high s

fredscience:

[image]

The Computer Wore a Skirt: Katherine Johnson

Katherine Johnson finished high school at the age of 14. And college at 18. She really, really liked math.

NASA, and its predecessor NACA, was one of relatively few places educated black women could find a job. They worked as computers, people trained to do exacting calculations before we had machines that could do it. It wasn’t exactly perfect, considering they were segregated from the white women, and no women were ever invited to meetings. Johnson, however, was so outstanding that she was soon promoted, and insistedshe participate in meetings with the white male engineers. She soon became one of the people entrusted with getting an American into space. She calculated the trajectory of Alan Shepherd’s historic flight. And although they had machine computers by the time it was John Glenn’s turn, he didn’t trust the mechanical calculations. He wouldn’t fly until Katherine Johnson had checked the numbers and said they were all right.

Source/2 / Katherine Johnson’s story will be featured in the upcoming film Hidden Figures. Check out the trailer: