Katherine Johnson is a name that everyone has heard, even if you don’t know all of her story. Maybe, you heard it when she received the 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama. Maybe it was when the book or the movie Hidden Figures came out. Maybe it was recently, when NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia opened the Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility, or CRF on September 22nd.
Or, maybe you have known her story since you were young.
Katherine Johnson, along with Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan, her fellow human computers (the title given to those who analyzed and calculated data manually, before the creation of the actual machine), broke barriers, both for gender and race, at a time when women “had their place”, especially women of colour. I have only seen the movie, but the racism and sexism that she endured, and overcame, is a true testament to her strength of spirit.
NASA provides a number of articles about Katherine, and her contribution to NASA’s success. You can find articles about her here.
The video that caught my attention the most, is below. A glimpse into the humble and brilliant mind of Katherine Johnson. Enjoy.
Text © Written In Geek blog (2017) All rights reserved
Pictures © Written In Geek blog, used with subject’s permission or under public domain (2017).- feature image, video and links, courtesy of NASA. Hidden Figures link courtesy of imdb.com
Thanks for sharing this! I’m currently studying astrophysics at university and I love reading stories like this 🙂 Not surprisingly women are still underrepresented in the areas of Sciences/technology in Australia. I hope one day that changes!
Oh and guess what, I think Australia may FINALLY be getting our own National Space Agency – I hope they call it ANSA or something haha. Everyone in my family was like, ‘hey Milly, you might be able to get that job in Astronomy you’ve been desperate for!’ Yeah sure… lol
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I’ve heard and congratulations! I’ve also seen the spoof name that’s been going around. When will the official name be revealed?
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Awesome 🙂
I’m not actually sure! If the Liberal government stays in power, they are aiming to come up with a proposal by March 2018 (and therefore a name I would guess). But if the labour government gets into power, a proposal might not even happen until 2020. I still can’t believe we are one of the only developed countries without a space agency, especially considering we’ve made many advances in the medical industry – perhaps that’s where our funding goes?
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Well, it’s on its way, and that’s what matters, and who knows, maybe you will have a chance to work there (if that’s what you want). Never say never!
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Yep exactly – never say never!! ☺
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🙂
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