Throwback Thursday: Katherine Johnson

Today's #ThrowbackThursday is in honor of Katherine Johnson, an African American physicist, space scientist, and mathematician whose work helped the US land a man on the moon.

Unlike Margaret Hamilton and Grace Hopper, who I had heard about previously albeit super briefly, I had never heard of Katherine Johnson until last week while searching the #womensequalityday hashtag on Instagram to see all the inspirational messages. One of the posts was from @blackgirlscode, who honored both Women's Equality Day AND Katherine Johnson, as last Friday, August 26, she turned 98 years old!

(Same, Katherine. Same. I've always said I prefer math because you are either right or wrong. Unlike English where a teacher can give you a bad grade just for not liking your style! Not that I'm still bitter or anything...).

Katherine Johnson was born August 26, 1918 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. At an early age, Johnson showed a passion and talent for math, however the county she lived in did not offer schooling for black students past the eighth grade. Her father understood the importance of education and wanted his daughter to meet her potential, so he drove his family 120 miles to Institute, West Virginia so she could go to high school. Katherine ended up skipping through grades quickly and graduated from high school at age 14, and then from West Virginia State College at age 18.

After years as a teacher and a stay-at-home mother, Johnson began working for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the predecessor for NASA, in 1953. NACA began hiring women for the tedious work of measuring and calculating the results of wind tunnel tests in 1935. During the war, they expanded this effort to include African-American women as well. These women had the job title of "computer" before the time of electronic computers. NACA was so pleased with the results that they kept women employed as "computers" even after the war was over, and a spot opened up for Katherine Johnson.

Johnson calculated the trajectory for Alan Shepard, the first American in space. She also calculated the launch window for Shepard's 1961 Mercury mission and the trajectory for the 1969 Apollo 11 flight to the Moon. NASA began using electronic computers in 1962 for John Glenn's orbit around Earth, but Glenn refused to fly unless Katherine verified the computer's calculations.

On Tuesday, November 24, 2015, Katherine Johnson received the nation's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, from President Barack Obama, for being a pioneering example of African American women in STEM.

Note to self: do more research on these early women computers. I love the fact that computers used to be women!!

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Johnson
http://www.makers.com/blog/women-behind-hidden-figures-movie
http://www.nasa.gov/feature/katherine-johnson-the-girl-who-loved-to-count