SOFT NEWS Katherine Johnson, One of NASA’s ‘Hidden Figures,’ Dies at 101

thompson

thompson

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Katherine Johnson, One of NASA's 'Hidden Figures,' Dies at 101

Katherine Johnson, a pioneering NASA mathematician of her time, has died at the age of 101, according to NASA.
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Katherine Johnson, One of NASA’s ‘Hidden Figures,’ Dies at 101

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Katherine Rodriguez
24 Feb 2020

Katherine Johnson, a pioneering mathematician of her time who was featured in the movie Hidden Figures, has died at the age of 101, according to NASA.

“Our @NASA family is sad to learn the news that Katherine Johnson passed away this morning at 101 years old. She was an American hero and her pioneering legacy will never be forgotten,” NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1231946829962584065
View: https://twitter.com/JimBridenstine/status/1231946829962584065


The innovative black mathematician was part of a team of “human computers” who worked on complex space missions that would calculate the trajectories for astronauts who went into space out of NASA Langley in Hampton, Virginia, WAVY reported.

Johnson’s precise calculations done using pencil and paper or chalk and chalkboard put John Glenn and other astronauts into orbit and brought them safely back to Earth.

It was Glenn who even asked for Johnson to hand-check the computer-calculated equations of the trajectory of his mission through its orbit.

“If she says they’re good,’” Katherine Johnson remembers Glenn saying, according to a NASA biography on her. “Then I’m ready to go.”

Johnson was born in August 1918 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, where not many people were aware of her until the 2016 movie Hidden Figures, which highlighted the work she and her colleagues did and the challenges they faced at NASA Langley.

In 2015, former President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom and she was also selected in November to receive the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian medal awarded by Congress.

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Pioneering NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson (L) and Baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays are presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House November 24, 2015 in Washington, DC. Obama presented the medal to 13 living and four posthumous pioneers in science, sports, public service, human rights, politics and arts. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
 
Red Baron

Red Baron

Paleo-Conservative
_______________
On a similar front,

Amy Shira Teitel has a great YouTube space channel called "Vintage Space" and now has her own book out. She also almost gives "perky" a bad reputation. Regardless, especially for a young person, she is an amazing resource. She has covered events, people, and places I never heard of before.
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Spaceflight historian Amy Shira Teitel tells the riveting story of the female pilots who each dreamed of being the first American woman in space.

When the space age dawned in the late 1950s, Jackie Cochran held more propeller and jet flying records than any pilot of the twentieth century-man or woman. She had led the Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots during the Second World War, was the first woman to break the sound barrier, ran her own luxury cosmetics company, and counted multiple presidents among her personal friends. She was more qualified than any woman in the world to make the leap from atmosphere to orbit. Yet it was Jerrie Cobb, twenty-five years Jackie's junior and a record-holding pilot in her own right, who finagled her way into taking the same medical tests as the Mercury astronauts. The prospect of flying in space quickly became her obsession.

While the American and international media spun the shocking story of a "woman astronaut" program, Jackie and Jerrie struggled to gain control of the narrative, each hoping to turn the rumored program into their own ideal reality-an issue that ultimately went all the way to Congress.

This dual biography of audacious trailblazers Jackie Cochran and Jerrie Cobb presents these fascinating and fearless women in all their glory and grit, using their stories as guides through the shifting social, political, and technical landscape of the time.

Fighting for Space is In Stores! (Runtime 1:13)

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP7CenX-7Rs&t=0s
 
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Laurane

Laurane

Canadian Loonie
The photo I saw looked like my sister in law who is definitely not black....... might have been the lighting but even in the photo above, she doesn't look black until you think about it.

So I looked at the 1930 or was it 1940 census and it showed that both parents were Mulatto, but all the previous censuses showed Black.

Just a point of interest for my genealogical tendencies. She was a brilliant woman.
 
AlfaMan

AlfaMan

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Red Baron said:
On a similar front,

Amy Shira Teitel has a great YouTube space channel called "Vintage Space" and now has her own book out. She also almost gives "perky" a bad reputation. Regardless, especially for a young person, she is an amazing resource. She has covered events, people, and places I never heard of before.
-----------
Spaceflight historian Amy Shira Teitel tells the riveting story of the female pilots who each dreamed of being the first American woman in space.

When the space age dawned in the late 1950s, Jackie Cochran held more propeller and jet flying records than any pilot of the twentieth century-man or woman. She had led the Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots during the Second World War, was the first woman to break the sound barrier, ran her own luxury cosmetics company, and counted multiple presidents among her personal friends. She was more qualified than any woman in the world to make the leap from atmosphere to orbit. Yet it was Jerrie Cobb, twenty-five years Jackie's junior and a record-holding pilot in her own right, who finagled her way into taking the same medical tests as the Mercury astronauts. The prospect of flying in space quickly became her obsession.

While the American and international media spun the shocking story of a "woman astronaut" program, Jackie and Jerrie struggled to gain control of the narrative, each hoping to turn the rumored program into their own ideal reality-an issue that ultimately went all the way to Congress.

This dual biography of audacious trailblazers Jackie Cochran and Jerrie Cobb presents these fascinating and fearless women in all their glory and grit, using their stories as guides through the shifting social, political, and technical landscape of the time.

Fighting for Space is In Stores! (Runtime 1:13)

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP7CenX-7Rs&t=0s
Click to expand...

Jackie Cochran should have been America's first woman in space, she did take the medical tests the first 7 Mercury astronauts did at the Lovelace clinic. She was flying F-104's in the early 60's. She was apparently one VERY good pilot, regardless of her gender.

She could have given Valentina Tereskova (Sp) a run for her money to be first woman in space. (Valentina is still alive, incidentally.) She would have made a fine role model for girls and woman as an astronaut, instead of the flaming lesbian Sally Ride. Capable perhaps, but not what I'd call a role model.
 
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