hovering the week's top text dorks like
Linux bias pioneering african-american
nasa mathematician Catherine Johnson has
passed away I want to get into a little
bit about her story and as Johnson
calculated she calculated the rocket
trajectories and earth orbits for NASA's
early space missions she was portrayed
in the 2016 Oscar nominated film hidden
figures and the film tells the story of
an african-american woman whose math
skills helped to put US astronauts John
Glenn into orbit around the Earth in
1962 miss Johnston verified the
calculations made by new electronic
computers before his flight imagine that
computers were brand new at the time so
we had to like verify that data and
there she was
verifying it making sure that the math
was correct from this new fandangled
device right miss Johnston
miss Johnson pardon me had previously
calculated the trajectories for the
space flight of Alan Shepard the first
American in space and such was her skill
and reputation that Glenn had asked her
specifically to be a part of his mission
and refused to fly unless she verified
the calculations she also helped to
calculate the trajectory from the 1969
Apollo 11 flight to the moon now NASA
Administrator Jim bridenstine describes
miss Johnson as a leader from NASA's
pioneering days he says miss Johnson
helped our helped our nation enlarge the
frontiers of space even as she made huge
strides that also opened doors for women
and people of color in the universal
human quest to explore space her
dedication and skill as a mathematician
helped
but humans on the moon and before that
made it possible for our astronauts to
take the first steps in space that we
are now following on a journey to Mars
here in 2020
miss Johnson was born in a small town in
West Virginia in 1918 she excelled
academically she graduated from high
school at just 14 years old and from
University at 18
NASA notes that her academic
achievements were partially were
particularly pardon me impressive quote
in an era when school for African
Americans normally stopped at eighth
grade for those who could indulge that
luxury to think of education as a luxury
at that time just an astonishing woman
after working as a teacher and being a
stay-at-home mom miss Johnson began
working for NASA's predecessor the
National Advisory Committee for
Aeronautics pardon me they called it
NACA
at the time in she started working there
in 1953 Johnson died at a retirement
home in Newport February 24th at the age
of 101 lived a long life bridenstine
described her as quote an American hero
and he stated that her pioneering legacy
will never be forgotten