Genius, confident, and determined are three words that people think of in connection to Katherine Johnson. Many people know that Katherine Johnson was a mathematician, but she was so much more. As a black female mathematician, Katherine Johnson showed the world that women and African Americans were just as smart and capable as white men. She left a legacy as one of the most important people involved with the Space Race. But she wasn’t always trying to stand up for herself. When she was little, she was first being recognized with her talent towards math. The early life of Katherine Johnson was an active one. Katherine skipped various grades and went to high school when she was ten years old.(nasa.gov) But just to get to high school, her father and the rest of her family had to drive all the way to a …show more content…
For the launch of Alan Shepard, Katherine calculated the launch and landing of the Freedom 7. For the putting John Glenn into space, she calculated the trajectory for the launch. In fact, John Glenn did not fully trust the computers, which would glitch regularly, but told mission control to “get the girl to check the numbers” which meant he wanted Katherine to check the numbers for him before he got onto the shuttle, as part of a pre-flight checklist.
And, most notably of all, the moon landing. Katherine Johnson calculated the trajectory to put the first man on the moon. She also helped sync the Lunar Lander with the Lunar Orbiter so that the men did not get stuck on the moon. She was very important when it came to helping get those men back.
Katherine Johnson also had many jobs. She graduated college with a degree in Math and French, and then went on to teach Math and French at a black public school in Virginia. That was when she met her first husband, James Goble, and they got married. But because married women were not allowed as teachers, they kept their marriage a secret. But they did not have to much
Sarah Elizabeth Johnson (age 16), is an aspiring photographer located in Knoxville, Tennessee. Sarah Elizabeth was born in South Vietnam and grew up partly in Charlotte, North Carolina. At the age of 12, Sarah came to Knoxville, Tennessee where she began taking an interest in photography. When she turned 14, she received her very first DSLR (Nikon D3300) and since then she has been taking photos wherever she goes. She is passionate about what she does and hopes that she can inspire others through her work. - 1 Peter
Claudia Johnson, also may be called “Lady Bird.” Is loved throughout America. Claudia is a well known lady for loving nature and conserving the environment. Claudia was born near Karnack, Texas in 1912. Claudia’s mother died when she was the age of five so she was raised by her father, aunt, and family servants. Although Claudia never really had a mother, she learned a lot about business from her dad. Claudia was raised by those who loved her and always had high hopes for her. She was a very good student in school and liked to venture and love nature and all the things it had to bring. That is how Claudia got the name “Lady bird” because she knew a lot about birds and you would find her out in the trees
and graduated. Kerri then went on to college at Stanford University where she was titled
They were specifically looking for African-American females to work as “computers” in what was then the Guidance and Navigation Department. She began working or NACA in 1953 and worked on problems assigned from engineers. While working, Johnson began to ask questions, such as the “hows” and “whys”, but this began to make her stand out. She began attending briefings in which she became more known for her training in geometry. While doing work for NASA, she had the honor of receiving tenure. She became more popular around the workplace and was becoming a leader, as more of the men began to rely on her. Johnson continued on to do calculations for the Freedom 7, Friendship 7, and even the Apollo 11 mission which landed three individuals on the moon. She also did calculations for the Space Shuttle
Mary Jackson was born April 9, 1921, Hampton, Virginia, U.S.A. She was a math genius and an aerospace engineer. most importantly she was the first African American female engineer to work and be the first flight engineers for NASA.
All three of these women work at Langley helping NASA. These three women play crucial roles in the operation of getting the first American, John Glenn into space. In addition to the important
She was not seen as a person but as a computer, who spent all day calculating the engineers problems. However, Katherine challenged this treatment and broke the stereotypes and gender roles placed on her. She began asking questions and, because she had such an intelligent mind, wanted to know the reasoning behind the work she was doing. She was the first women to attend the NASA briefings, which were thought to be for men only, however, there was no law that stated this. She continued to advance herself by using her mathematician status to teach the men at NASA geometry and began leading them. Before, Katherine was the “human computer” doing the calculations for her leader, but now, she was the leader. All of this advancement for a black woman at the time, wouldn’t be possible without her intelligence, hard work, and
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
In the movie, Hidden Figures three women; Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughn, and Mary Jackson helped launch a man into the orbit. Each women has an obstacle of their own in hopes of having a great chance of putting a man in space. One of the women who played a major part in putting a man in space is Katherine Johnson. Johnson hoped to be in the position where she will be respected. When Johnson got there she did not get the respect she deserved. She was the most intelligent person working in the office. However, her skin color held her back. One of her co-workers, Paul Stafford, blackened out important information needed to finish the work completely and accurately. She was unable to finish her work without complete access to data. Al Harrison
Amelia Earhart inspired many women to follow their ambitions and dreams. She is still a symbol of the power and perseverance of American women. When she first saw an airplane, she wasn’t very interested, but as soon as she left the ground at a stunt-flying exhibition, she knew that she had to fly. Six
Elizabeth A. Johnson (born December 6, 1941) is a Christian feminist theologian. She is a Distinguished Professor of Theology at Fordham University, a Jesuit institution in New York City. She is a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood. Elizabeth A. Johnson (born December 6, 1941[1]) is a Roman Catholic feminist theologian. [2] She is a Distinguished Professor of Theology at Fordham University, a Jesuit institution in New York City. She is a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood. Johnson has served as president of the Catholic Theological Society of America and is "one of its most well-known members."[3] The New York Times has described Johnson as, "a highly-respected theologian whose books are widely used in theology classes."[4]
In the movie Hidden Figures, you see three main characters Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Johnson all influential Black women in American history. During the movie you get to see Dorothy Vaughan lead the Colored Computers section in NASA (known as NACA at the time) and eventually became the first Black Women Supervisor in NASA, simultaneously you see Mary Jackson fight her way through Virginia Segregation laws to becoming the First Black and Women Engineer in NASA and later on becoming a fighter for the advancement of all women regardless of color, but arguably the most influential of them all was Katherine Johnson who was a key pioneer in getting NASA not only to space but to the moon with her precise calculations for space travel, guiding the rockets that took our first Americans into space. Regardless of who was the most influence all three of these women changed history and helped the fight not only for African American’s rights but Women’s Rights regardless of color.
Orville and Wilbur inspired women to take flight, and being capable just as men to do what they love. “In the next few years, women in Germany, Italy, and America became licensed to fly, many of them explicitly trying to prove that women were as cable as men in the air” (“The First”). For inventing the airplane, women were able to get a licensed to fly legally, the first woman to be license was Harriet Quimby. As a result, the Wright brothers changed the world by opening opportunities for women to do what they love. It changed history a little bit more for the future. Women in the 1900s couldn’t do what men could do, they couldn’t work like men, therefore; the invention of the plane gave women an opportunity to command a space mission. Commanding a space shuttle mission is one step further into changing the future for people and their big ideas. “Finally, these were the first in what was to become many steps by women in aviation, culminating (thus far) in the first woman [Eileen Collins] to command a space mission, in which happened in [July] 1999” (“The First”). The first woman to command in space shuttle mission to on July 1999, she was in space for 38 days 8 hours 10 minute. If it weren’t for the Wright brothers’ invention of the powered airplane, it wouldn’t had been possible for women to be commanding a space mission. Who knows what life would be like today in the 21st century if women hadn’t had been flying airplanes or had even made the choice to fly an airplane. In the 1950s was the birth of jet age. Aside from how the Wright brothers changed how people fight battles, recruiting troops and women’s opportunities, it gave people a chance to explore the world, to travel places they never thought they could ever travel
Amelia Earhart achieved great things throughout her life. One of her famous quotes is “Women must try to do things men have tried. When they fail, their future must be a challenge to others.” (Amelia Earhart) Even when she failed, she proved that woman can be just as good as men. She accomplished so much in the time she was here. She did things like becoming the first woman to fly a solo round-trip flight across the U.S. in 1928, and even set the woman’s speed record of 181 miles per hour in 1930. She also become the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean in 1932 and continued to set a lasting example
Katherine Johnson is the main focus in the movie. She gets moved from the West computers where the colored women work to work for Al Harrison who is the director of the space test group in the East Area. Katherine Goble Johnson becomes Harrison’s analytical geometry computer. When she gets there one of the men give her the trash can because he thinks that she is the custodian. Also, Katherine goes to get a cup of coffee and all the men stare at her. The next day there is a coffee pot that says colored. Katherine goes to poor it but the pot is empty. Then Katherine has to use the bathroom and asks her supervisor where’s the bathroom and her supervisor says “I don’t know where your bathroom is.” So she ends up having to run half a mile to the bathroom and back. Further on in the movie Johnson goes to bathroom on a rainy day and when she comes back Al asks her where she goes everyday for 40 minutes. Katherine ends up flipping out explaining that she gets paid poorly,can’t afford pearls,and how she feels because all of them don’t wanna touch the coffee pot just because she’s a colored woman. In the end Katherine goes on to perform calculations for the Apollo II mission to the moon and space shuttle. The movie states that in 2016 there was a building dedicated for her and her work with space travel called Katherine Goble Johnson Computational Building. Also, at the age of ninety seven she was awarded with the Presidential medal of freedom. One of Katherine’s colleges that