Make no mistake: Katherine Johnson was a genius. It does not detract from Johnson’s genius to say that in her life of stunning achievement - and her long-overdue fame - she also represented a cohort of women who pioneered the STEM field in the mid-20th century, and who are only now beginning to receive credit. Henson portrayed her in the film adaptation of Margot Lee Shetterly’s best-selling book, Hidden Figures. In 2015, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, the actor Taraji P. But her renown grew, and by the time she died this year, at 101, she had become a household name. In the world at large, Johnson was mostly unsung. The historic flight would prove an important step toward the ultimate goal of sending an American to orbit Earth.Īt the time, Johnson’s pivotal contribution to human spaceflight was known within NASA, as well as in the tight-knit community of African Americans she knew in the Hampton Roads, Virginia, area - many of whom, like her, worked at NASA’s Langley research facility. Now in Reaching for the Moon she tells her own story for the first time, in a lively autobiography that will inspire young readers everywhere.In 1961, the Freedom 7 mission sent astronaut Alan Shepard, packed in an almost impossibly tiny capsule, hurtling up into space thanks to Johnson, he also came down, safely. Katherine Johnson’s story was made famous in the bestselling book and Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures. She worked on many of NASA’s biggest projects including the Apollo 11 mission that landed the first men on the moon. In the early 1950s, Katherine was thrilled to join the organization that would become NASA. Still, she lived her life with her father’s words in mind: “You are no better than anyone else, and nobody else is better than you.” As an African American and a girl growing up in an era of brutal racism and sexism, Katherine faced daily challenges. But ability and opportunity did not always go hand in hand. In school she quickly skipped ahead several grades and was soon studying complex equations with the support of a professor who saw great promise in her. The inspiring autobiography of NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, who helped launch Apollo 11.Īs a young girl, Katherine Johnson showed an exceptional aptitude for math. On November 24, 2015, she received the nation's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, from President Barack H. Johnson, who co-authored twenty-six scientific papers, has been the recipient of NASA’s Lunar Spacecraft and Operation’s Group Achievement Award and NASA’s Apollo Group Achievement Award.
Her calculations proved critical to the success of the Apollo Moon landing program and the start of the Space Shuttle program. She continued to work at NASA until 1986, combining her math talent with electronic computer skills. Even after NASA began using electronic computers, John Glenn requested that she personally recheck the calculations made by the new electronic computers before his flight aboard Friendship 7 – the mission on which he became the first American to orbit the Earth. She calculated the trajectory for Alan Shepard, the first American in space. In 1953, she joined Langley Research Center as a research mathematician for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), where she put her mathematics skills to work. Johnson was one of the first African Americans to enroll in the mathematics program at West Virginia University.Īfter college, Johnson began teaching in elementary and high schools in Virginia and West Virginia. degree in French and mathematics in 1937 from West Virginia State University (formerly West Virginia State College). She attended West Virginia State High School and graduated from high school at age fourteen. From a young age, Johnson counted everything and could easily solve mathematical equations. Her mother was a teacher and her father was a farmer and janitor.
Mathematician and computer scientist Katherine Johnson was born in 1918 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
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