Katherine Johnson Accomplishments

The movie Hidden Figures is based on the remarkable true story of African American women working for NASA in Hampton, Virginia 1961. With all their hard work and determination, they did the calculations and equations for the shuttle launches of Friendship 7, Apollo 11, and other Space missions. One out of these women was a brilliant mathematician named Katherine Gobel- Johnson. As a young child, Gobel she was recognized for her high intellect and was recommended to an alternative school so they can see what she can really do. At first, Katherine’s parents were hesitant because of the cost to send an African-American child during that time but the teachers made a collection and full scholarship for Katherine to go. During the movie, young Katherine was presented to solve the equation Katherine solved the equation and the answer was x=1, -7, 3, and -1/2. Katherine graduated high school at age 18, then went to West Virginia State College now called West Virginia State University. She graduated summa cum laude with degree in Mathematics and French in 1937. Next, she became the first female African-American to attend West Virginia University Graduate School.

Katherine was hired as one of the women for the tedious and precise work of measuring and calculating the results of the wind tunnel test in 1935. During WW2, the NACA expanded this effect to include African-American women. They were so pleased by the women's results that they kept the women's computer work. By 1953, demands of the space research meant there were openings for African-American computer at Langley Research Center’s Guidance and Navigation Department and Katherine found her place to put her extraordinary mathematical skills to work. As a computer, she calculated to trajectory for Alan shepard the first American in space. Even after NASA began using electronic computers, John Glenn requested that she personally recheck the calculations

Katherine was born August 26, 1918. Katherine conducted technical work at NASA and its predecessor. She graduated highschool at the age of 14 years old. Later on Katherine was handpicked to be one of three black students to integrate West Virginia’s graduate schools. Katherine graduated from college at the age of 18. Katherine is known for calculating the trajectories for the NASA missions. Katherine used to work for NACA before working for NASA. She performed the calculations that sent astronauts into orbit in the early 1960, and to the moon in the year 1969.

Katherine Gobles Johnson was the first African-American to join the Space Task Group at NASA. This was a prestigious group in NASA that was dedicated in winning the Space Race. Octavia Spencer accurately describes the honor and struggles associated with carrying such a title by describing what the women in the book were doing in an interview with People magazine, “They were basically treated as second-class citizens. They knew that they had more to offer, and they basically rolled up their sleeves and 1 2 3 they did the work to be a part of something greater than themselves. Their contributions to the space program, we’re still feeling the impact of it today.”

Before women became astronauts it was only a thing for men. Many women wanted to be astronauts but they were treated unfairly. The classes were called “Boy fields” and teachers and some parents recommended women not to take the classes. Women didn’t have the same opportunities as men and it was harder to get though school. Women had to take harder classes like math and science. During this, lots of women lost their determination. Women astronauts helped the future generations to see that occupations can be successfully held by women. www.windows2universe.org/kids_space/nicole.html

Throughout the movie, for some reason, Katherine Goble(later known as Johnson) received the most screentime. Born in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia in 1918, Katherine Goble’s (later known as Johnson) intense curiosity with numbers had her attending a high school around the campus of West Virginia State College by the age of thirteen. Five years later, a man named professor W. W. Schieffelin Claytor (historically known as the third African-American to earn a PhD in mathematics, right after Dudley Weldon Woodard in second and Elbert Frank Cox with first) had taken an interest in Katherine’s way of thinking, taking her in as his pupil. After graduating in 1937 with highest honors, Katherine took a job teaching at an all African-American

Katherine Johnson showed signs of brilliance from a young age. She even started high school when she was thirteen years old. She also went to college and became a substitute teacher at Huntington High School in Newport New (Shetterly, 120). Johnson started to work at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in 1953. Initially, she started her job, much like the other women, in the West Computing section.When the Soviet Union launched the first satellite, Katherine’s life at Langley changed. For instance, some of her math equations were used by engineers at Langley which is a huge accomplishment. Also in 1959, Katherine wrote the research report that described Project Mercury’s orbital flight (Shetterly, 190). In 1961, Katherine Johnson did trajectory analysis for Shepard’s Freedom 7. She did the same for John Glenn’s, astronaut, orbital the following year. Even

Grace Hopper also known as Grace Brewster Murray went to college at Vassar and Yale University to study math and received a master’s degree in mathematics. While studying at Yale Grace taught at Vassar. She was the first women to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics at Yale. Her education brought her too many opportunities including an associate professor at Vassar. She joined the U.S. Naval Reserve around World War II and was commissioned as a lieutenant.

As depicted in the film, the head engineer in the space task group did not fancy the idea of Katherine checking his mathematical calculations. He perceived it as an insult to his intelligence to have an African American woman be assigned specifically to correct his unknown errors. He wanted the boss to value his calculations instead of Katherine’s. He also was not too thrilled about Katherine attending the meetings regarding the space launch as he stated, “women are not allowed in meetings.” Moreover, if Katherine was not a part of the space task group, the launch of John Glenn into orbit would have been unsuccessful since she was the brain behind the

Grace Brewster Murray was born on December 9th, 1906. She was the oldest of three siblings, when she was little she tried to dismantle 7 alarm clocks at a time, well her mother found out what she was trying to do and shut her down but she still dismantled one of the seven alarm clocks. She went to New Jersey’s Hartridge School for preparatory education. She tried to enter Vassar College when she was 16 but got rejected because her grades in Latin weren’t satisfactory. She was accepted the following year. In 1928, she graduated from Vassar with her bachelor’s degree from her course mathematics and physics. Two years later, she had earned her Master’s degree in the same field from Yale University.

She was promoted temporarily at NASA because of her engineering abilities and she wanted to become a permanent engineer and not some loaner “computer.” She wanted to go to a school in which no African American people were allowed, so she fought that rule and went to court where she persuaded the judge to allow her to go their but only at night. She soon graduated and become a full time engineer with the correct credentials. She is important to US history because she allowed women to become engineers which before was only a man's profession but that wasn’t all since she also played a major role in the shuttle’s design that launched Glenn into space and back to Earth

Grace Hopper: Grace Hopper, computer scientist and United Sates Navy rear admiral, perhaps revolutionized the way computers work today. Among her many accomplishments, she established the first compiler for a computer program, popularized the movement leading to the first high-level programming language (COBOL), and she also popularized the term “debugging” by, funnily enough, pulling an actual moth from a system. Hopper is one of those women whose legacy is ongoing, not only in physical effigies, but a true remnant of brilliance that continues to light the way for science today.

After a seemingly endless series of menial jobs as a companion to an old lady, needle working or governess to an aristocratic family, her life changed drastically when she was offered a job by Joseph Johnson as a translator and reviewer. She was now able of improving her reading and writing skills. She published Thoughts on theEducation of Daughters, in 1787; it is a call for girls tobe given the chance to develop their God-given intelligence. She also used it to show her contempt for the frivolity of so many fashionable women. Her magnum opus, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, followed in1792; she sets out to speak ‘for my sex, not for myself ’, though she admits that ‘most of the struggles of an eventful life have been occasioned by

was a mathematician and computer scientist. Johnson wanted to begin school at an early age. She

Well, women have contributed a lot in science and development of humanity from the earliest time. They have faced barriers to make their work known and accepted. One of these inventors is Marie Curie. She is the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in physics in 1903 and she won her second Nobel Prize in chemistry as well, eight years later. Her achievements include the development of the theory of radioactivity, techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes, and the discovery polonium and radium. She was also the first woman to teach