

- Katherine johnson nasa missions movie#
- Katherine johnson nasa missions verification#
- Katherine johnson nasa missions series#
Katherine Johnson was rejected by NASA the first time she applied. (They eventually had three daughters.) 3. After completing her first session, she discovered that she was pregnant and opted to withdraw from school in order to raise a family with her husband, James Goble. In 1939, the newly-married Johnson-then known as Katherine Goble-enrolled as a graduate student at West Virginia University after being selected as one of the first three black students-and the first black woman-to attend the state’s newly-integrated graduate school program. Johnson had plans to continue her education even further. Katherine Johnson was one of the first black students integrated into West Virginia's graduate schools. At the age of 18, Johnson graduated summa cum laude with degrees in both mathematics and French. Schiefflin Claytor, even designed a course on the geometry of space especially for her. One of her mentors, famed black mathematician Dr. Born Katherine Coleman in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia on August 26, 1918, she enrolled directly into the second grade when she reached school age, and by age 10 she was ready for high school.Īs an undergrad at West Virginia State College, she took every math class that was available to her. Johnson’s gift for numbers allowed her to accelerate through her education. Katherine Johnson graduated from college at age 18. Her accomplishments have since been recognized, leading her to be regarded as one of the pioneers of the space age. On the other hand, she apparently had no problem serving as a model for a Barbie-Puppe of the “Inspiring Women” series.Before she helped send the first astronauts to the moon, won the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and became the subject of an award-winning film, Katherine Johnson-who passed away on Februat the age of 101-was an anonymous “ female computer” doing thankless but vital work at NASA. But she allegedly disagreed with how she was portrayed, so her toy figure was never sold.
Katherine johnson nasa missions series#
Like Margaret Hamilton, Nancy Grace Roman and the women astronauts, Sally Ride and Mae Jemison, a character of the Lego special series “Women of NASA” was dedicated to Johnson in 2017. On 24 February 2020, Johnson died aged 101 years.
Katherine johnson nasa missions verification#
In February 2019, NASA also dedicated a facility in her honour, the „ Independent Verification and Validation Facility“ in Fairmont, West Virginia. In 2017, NASA named the " Katherine Johnson Computational Research Facility" in Langley after her.

In 2015, Katherine Johnson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States, for her contribution to the moon landing and her lifetime achievement for NASA. Until her retirement in 1986, Johnson was also instrumental in the Sky Lab and Space Shuttle programmes. At the time, she was the only woman to make the move from the computer centre to another department.ĭuring the failed Apollo 13 mission, which had to return to Earth unplanned after the explosion of a fuel tank, Katherine Johnson helped calculate the return flight. Johnson, a black woman, had a doubly hard time, but she persevered, kept asking questions and impressed with her mathematical skills. The USA were intensifying efforts to catch up with the Soviets in space travel, creating opportunities for talented minds. In 1957, the “Sputnik” shock changed the American space flight research – and Johnson’s life. For several years she was primarily analysing flight data.


First she worked as a teacher, then she spent some time at home to focus on her three daughters and, in 1953, began working at the NACA’s West Area Computing Unit, where Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan were also employed. She was born in White Sulphur Springs in West Virginia in 1918 and studied French and mathematics (after skipping several classes at school).
Katherine johnson nasa missions movie#
The most famous among the NASA women scientists of African-American origin, who gained belated fame through the movie “Hidden Figures”, was Katherine G. Katherine Johnson at the opening of the NASA Computational Research Facility named after her, in 2017 Mathematics genius and NASA icon
