Katherine Johnson

Katherine Johnson (1918 - 2020) was an American mathematician whose precise calculations of orbital mechanics were critical to the success of the United States' first crewed spaceflights. ^[1] Over a 33-year career at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and its successor, NASA, she computed trajectories, launch windows and return paths for missions ranging from Alan Shepard's 1961 suborbital flight to John Glenn's 1962 orbit of the Earth and the Apollo Moon landings. ^[2]

Early life and education

Katherine Coleman was born on August 26, 1918, in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. ^[1] A gifted child who advanced quickly through school, she enrolled at West Virginia State College, a historically Black institution, and graduated summa cum laude in 1937 with degrees in mathematics and French. In 1939 she was selected as one of the first Black students to integrate the graduate program at West Virginia University. Before her career in aeronautics, she worked for several years as a schoolteacher.

Career at NASA

In 1953 she joined NACA at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, initially working in the segregated West Area Computing unit, a group of Black women mathematicians employed as "human computers." ^[2] When NACA was reorganized into NASA in 1958, she became part of the Space Task Group, performing the complex trajectory analysis that guided the emerging American space program.

Major contributions

Johnson calculated the trajectory for Alan Shepard's 1961 Freedom 7 mission, the first American human spaceflight. ^[2] Before John Glenn's Friendship 7 orbital flight in 1962, Glenn reportedly asked that she personally verify the figures produced by the electronic computer before he would fly. She went on to contribute to the Apollo program, including the 1969 Apollo 11 lunar landing and calculations that supported the safe return of the crippled Apollo 13 mission in 1970.

Recognition and legacy

Long overlooked, Johnson's work reached a wide public audience through the 2016 book Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly and its acclaimed film adaptation. ^[3] In 2015 President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, and in 2019 Congress presented her with the Congressional Gold Medal. NASA named a computational research facility and a building in her honor. She died on February 24, 2020, in Newport News, Virginia, at the age of 101.