In her later NASA career, Johnson worked on the Space Shuttle program and the Earth Resources Satellite and encouraged students to pursue careers in science and technology fields. Katherine Johnson, a pioneer of the American space movement, was born in White Sulphur Springs, and was trained as a mathematician and physicist. Johnson exhibited exceptional technical leadership and is known especially for her calculations of the 1961 trajectory for Alan Shepard’s flight (first American in space), the 1962 verification of the first flight calculation made by an electronic computer for John Glenn’s orbit (first American to orbit the earth), and the 1969 Apollo 11 trajectory to the moon. Katherine Johnson is a pioneer of the American space movement and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Johnson was hired as a research mathematician at the Langley Research Center with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the agency that preceded NASA, after they opened hiring to African-Americans and women. President Barack Obama presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to NASA mathematician. Johnson's computations have influenced every major space program from Mercury through the Shuttle program. Katherine Johnson, NASA mathematician portrayed in Hidden Figures, dies at 101 FILE PHOTO: U.S. In 2015, President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom for a pioneering legacy that opened doors for countless women who wanted careers in science and engineering. 24, 2015, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Obama presented Katherine Johnson with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nations highest civilian award, on November 24, 2015, during a ceremony in the. Katherine also was an African American trailblazer. Credit: Carlos Barria/Reuters/Alamy Born in 1918, Johnson sat ringside to the Great Depression. In 2015, former US President Barack Obama awarded her with the presidential medal of freedom. Born in West Virginia in 1918, Katherine graduated from high school at the age of just 14. It’s the same.Katherine Johnson Receives Presidential Medal of Freedom (NHQ201511240003)įormer NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson is seen after President Barack Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Tuesday, Nov. Katherine Johnson receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 from Barack Obama. Katherine Johnson, the pioneering black mathematician whose NASA journey was showcased in the 2016 movie Hidden Figures, has passed away at 101 years old. NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson has passed away at the age of 101. If I gave you that answer last year, it’s the same now. In 2015, President Barack Obama presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 97-year-old, Katherine Johnson for refusing to be limited by society’s expectations of her gender and race while expanding the boundaries of humanity’s reach. And it was a joy to contribute to the literature that was going to be coming out.īut you know, math is the same. Katherine Johnson, portrayed in the film 'Hidden Figures,' explained her work for NASA as a research mathematician in a 2017 interview. I like the stars and the stories we were telling. The main thing is I liked what I was doing. I didn’t do anything alone but try to go to the root of the question – and succeeded there. Her calculations proved critical to the success of the Apollo Moon landings and the start of the Space Shuttle program. Katherine continued to work at NASA until 1986. Hidden Figures is a 2016 American biographical drama film directed by Theodore Melfi and written by Melfi and Allison Schroeder. But when they went to computers, they called over and said, "Tell her to check and see if the computer trajectory they had calculated was correct." So I checked it, and it was correct. Katherine also was an African American trailblazer. You could do much more, much faster on the computer. You tell me when you want it and where you want it to land, and I'll do it backward and tell you when to take off." That was my forte.Įven after NASA had electronic computers, John Glenn requested that Katherine personally recheck the computer calculations before his 1962 Friendship 7 flight – the first American mission to orbit Earth. As a human computer, Katherine calculated the trajectory for astronaut Alan Shepard’s 1961 Freedom 7 mission to space – the first spaceflight for an American.Įarly on, when they said they wanted the capsule to come down at a certain place, they were trying to compute when it should start.
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