A fitting honour for someone who’s work has impacted so much of modern science. And she and her colleagues were also the focus of the 2016 film Hidden Figures. Johnson’s contributions to the history of space travel went relatively unrecognised for decades, but in 2015 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama, the highest civilian honour the United States gives. And when Apollo 13 announced that “Houston, we have a problem”, Johnson’s work on backup procedures helped to get them home safely. ![]() Johnson was involved in the first mission that put men on the moon, helping to calculate their launch trajectory. ![]() When electronic computers began to be used at NASA, astronaut John Glenn refused to accept the figures until they had been checked by Johnson, stating “If she says the numbers are good, I’m ready to go”. Johnson calculated the trajectory for the rocket, and the launch window for Alan Sheppard’s 1961 mission that made him the first American in space. Overcoming the barriers faced by black women in the sciences, Johnson’s work is part of so many iconic moments in NASA’s history. She calculated the trajectories rockets needed to be launched at, and even the times at which it was possible to launch them at all. Eventually, it was impossible to ignore her mathematical skill and she began assisting with NASA spaceflights, although she still faced pervasive discrimination. She spent her time there segregated by both her race, and her gender. She is now 97 and a major Hollywood movie is being made about her life and work with Langley in the early days of the space program. She said her greatest contribution to space. She began work at NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, where she was a human computer, reading the black box data from aeroplanes. Johnson began working at NASAs predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in 1953 at the Langley Laboratory in Virginia. Johnson was renowned for her mathematical abilities. Adam Murphy has been reflecting on her contribution to the space race…Īdam - Katherine Johnson, legendary NASA mathematician, passed away on February 24th at the age of 101. Indeed, some astronauts refused to fly unless she’d personally looked at the figures. It was her calculations that got men to the moon, and safely home again. “She opened the door for so many scientists and engineers, and even nontechnical folks who look like me, that don’t look like me.“Ĭopyright 2020 by KPRC Click2Houston - All rights reserved.We were saddened to hear of the recent death of NASA’s mathematical legend, Katherine Johnson. “I think we would significantly lack the diversity that we appreciate and enjoy and share in today,” Foley said. Foley imagined what today’s NASA would be like if there had been no Katherine Johnson. Johnson’s impact on NASA goes beyond her calculation. ![]() In 2015, President Barack Obama awarded Johnson the highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She calculated the trajectory of Apollo 11’s flight to the moon and worked on the plan that saved Apollo 13’s crew and returned them safely to Earth. She verified the calculations for John Glenn’s historic first American orbit of earth. ”Basically she’s a walking calculator, so launching our astronauts and landing them safely back on the earth by the stroke of her pencil and her sheer brilliance,” Foley said.ĭuring her three decades at NASA, Johnson calculated the launch window for America’s first human space flight. Starting in the 1950s, Johnson was a computer at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia. Johnson was an African American NASA mathematician who broke gender and race barriers while coming up with the math to send astronauts into orbit. ”We have lost an American hero with her passing, but we have been left with a legacy that will carry on for generations to come,” said Monica Foley, the chief of staff at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. READ: Katherine Johnson, mathematician portrayed in ‘Hidden Figures,’ has died Katherine Johnson, whose life was made into a movie called ”Hidden Figures,“ is dead at 101. HOUSTON – A NASA trail-blazer, who opened doors for women and African Americans, has died. The following is a statement from Administrator Jim Bridenstine on the passing of NASA legend Katherine Johnson, who worked for the agency from 1953 to 1986.
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