Katherine Johnson
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Katherine Johnson was an African-American mathematician who made significant contributions to mathematics and science. Her work matters because it demonstrates both her scientific achievements and the historical barriers that Black women faced in accessing opportunities in STEM fields.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1918-08-26
- Died
- 2020-02-24
- Works
- 63
Top works
- The case of Elizabeth Feild, wife of Theophilus Feild, gent. and Katherine Johnson, widow
- Buried Dreams
- World Citizen : Grade 6
- My Lord's Judgment
- World Citizen : Grades Pre K-K
via Open Library + Wikidata
Film & TV
Acting · White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Katherine Johnson (née Coleman; August 26, 1918 – February 24, 2020), also known as Katherine Goble, was an American mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights. During her 35-year career at NASA and its predecessor, she earned a reputation for…
Known for
- Outlier: the story of Katherine Johnson — Herself2019
- 1969 — Herself2019
via TMDB
Music · MusicBrainz
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Article
Creola Katherine Johnson (née Coleman, previously Goble; August 26, 1918 – February 24, 2020) was an American mathematician and human computer whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights. During her 33-year career at NASA and its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, she earned a reputation for mastering complex manual calculations and helped pioneer the use of computers to perform tasks previously requiring humans. The space agency noted her "historical role as one of the first African-American women to work as a NASA scientist".
Johnson's work included calculating trajectories, launch windows, and emergency return paths for Project Mercury spaceflights, including those for astronauts Alan Shepard (the first American in space) and John Glenn (the first American in orbit), and rendezvous paths for the Apollo Lunar Module and command module on flights to the Moon. Her calculations were also essential to the beginning of the Space Shuttle program, and she worked on plans for a human mission to Mars.
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1918 births2020 deaths20th-century American educators20th-century American mathematicians20th-century American physicists20th-century American women educators20th-century American women mathematicians20th-century American women physicists21st-century African-American people21st-century African-American women21st-century American mathematicians