On February 24, 2020, American mathematician Katherine Johnson passed away at 101. Johnson was essential to the success of NASA’s first U.S. space flight and those following. Her calculations contributed to the Apollo moon landing and the Space Shuttle program. Without her precise calculations, it is hard to imagine that Apollo 11 would’ve successfully landed on the moon and returned in 1969.
Yet, if she made these amazing contributions over 50 years ago, why is she only being recognized now?
In 2016, Johnson’s story was portrayed in the hit feature film, Hidden Figures, where Taraji P. Henson played her. It was through this film that the story of her legendary mind and determination became more ubiquitously known.
During an era of segregation and Jim Crow, Johnson was a pioneering black woman in a predominantly white and male field. Her smarts proved necessary for U.S. manned space flights and soon her colleagues began to trust her more than the computer, asking her to check over answers and equations.
“Early on, when they said they wanted the capsule to come down at a certain place, they were trying to compute when it should start,” Johnson said during an interview with NASA in 2008. “I said, ‘Let me do it. You tell me when you want it and where you want it to land, and I’ll do it backwards and tell you when to take off.’ That was my forte.” It was this outlook and skill that Johnson used when making the calculations for Alan Shepard’s trajectory on that history 1961 flight, and it was the same outlook and skill that made her a recognizable name in science, specifically in regard to black women in STEM.
When learning about science and space travel in school, most kids hear about Buzz Aldrin. What they don’t hear about is how it was a black woman that made it possible for his flight to take off in the first place. It is a great shame that it took 50 years before a film was made about this remarkable woman and that she was left out of history in schools for so long.
https://twitter.com/rachelswarns/status/1231966287368261634
Now, Mattel made Katherine Johnson into a Barbie doll. Many are citing Katherine Johnson and Hidden Figures as the reasons they or their kids want to go into STEM fields. Johnson is finally getting the praise she deserves.
https://twitter.com/yolandajacktx/status/1232117455729889280
Johnson lived to see the film portraying her incredible feats and she also was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2019. While the world has lost an amazing soul this week, I am glad that she got to see more widespread recognition and accalim for her critical work in science and mathematics. All we can do from here on out is remember and carry on her legacy and do the same for other women of color in history.
RIP Katherine Johnson. Your legacy will live on.