The term computer being used for a human had been in use since the 17th century.Īt some point in the 19th century, work as a computer became gendered. So, Johnson joining a computer group at NACA meant she was working as someone who could perform the precise calculations needed for spaceflight. In 1953, a “computer” was someone who performed computations, or mathematical formulas. But when she got into the field, computers were just beginning to become the automated tools they are now. Johnson’s life was featured in the book and movie, Hidden Figures. She joined the West Area Computing section at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics’ (NACA’s) Langley laboratory in 1953, working for the precursor to NASA. She graduated with highest honors in 1937 and took a job teaching at a black public school in Virginia. Schieffelin Claytor, the third African American to earn a PhD in mathematics. By 13, she was attending the high school on the campus of historically black West Virginia State College.Īt 18, she enrolled in the college itself, where she made quick work of the school’s math curriculum and found a mentor in math professor W. Being handpicked to be one of three black students to integrate West Virginia’s graduate schools is something that many people would consider one of their life’s most notable moments, but it’s just one of several breakthroughs that have marked Katherine Johnson’s long and remarkable life.īorn in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, in 1918, her intense curiosity and brilliance with numbers vaulted her ahead several grades in school.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |