For those of you who have watched the amazing historical movie, Hidden
Figures, then you should know who Katherine Goble Johnson is.Taraji P
Henson portrayed Katherine in the movie. The 98 year old mathematician
who made amazing contributions to the United States' aeronautics and
space programs with the early application of digital electronic
computers at NASA, was brought on stage by the stars of the movie -
Taraji P.
Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae - as they presented the award
for Best
Documentary at the Oscars.
Before announcing the nominees and winner, Taraji introduced Katherine as a true hero...
WOW - women's history finally getting the respect it deserves 🙌🏽
Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson (born August 26, 1918) a physicist and
mathematician who made fundamental contributions to the United States'
aeronautics and space programs with the early application of digital
electronic computers at NASA. Known for accuracy in computerized
celestial navigation, her technical work at NASA spanned decades during
which she calculated the trajectories, launch windows, and emergency
back-up return paths for many flights from Project Mercury including the
early NASA missions of John Glenn and Alan Shepard, the 1969 Apollo 11
flight to the Moon, through the Space Shuttle program and even early
plans for the Mission to Mars. According to an oral history archived by
the National Visionary Leadership Project: At first she worked in a pool
of women performing math calculations. Katherine has referred to the
women in the pool as virtual 'computers who wore skirts.' Their main job
was to read the data from the black boxes of planes and carry out other
precise mathematical tasks. Then one day, Katherine (and a colleague)
were temporarily assigned to help the all-male flight research team.
Katherine's knowledge of analytic geometry helped make quick allies of
male bosses and colleagues to the extent that, "they forgot to return me
to the pool." While the racial and gender barriers were always there,
Katherine says she ignored them. Katherine was assertive, asking to be
included in editorial meetings (where no women had gone before.) She
simply told people she had done the work and that she belonged.
#theunsungheroines #gamechangers#hiddenfigures#hiddenfigures #oscars
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