This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at WPUNJ chapter.
Name: Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson
Hometown: White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia
Birthday: August 26th, 1918
Occupation: NASA Physicist
Katherine Johnson, who was played by Taraji P. Henson in the recent critically acclaimed movie Hidden figures, is an African American physicist and mathematician who made contributions to the United States’ aeronautics and space programs at NASA. It is commonly said that her work throughout NASA was a pioneer for all women, especially African American women.
In honor of this beautiful movie, highlighting Katherine Johnson’s work, along with Dorothy Vaughn and Mary Jackson, here are some fun facts that weren’t mentioned throughout the movie about the leading lady’s character.
- Katherine Johnson was such a bright student that she was a freshman in high school at the age of 10!!! She graduated from college at the age of 18
- She was handpicked to be one of three black students to integrate into one of West Virginia’s graduate schools and went on to receive her Ph.D in mathematics.
- She had the talent of working BACKWARDS to make project Mercury a success in 1958.
- She worked on calculations that helped Apollo astronauts to come home from the moon.
- In 2015 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the age of 97, by the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama.