Katherine Johnson (
né
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth reg ...
e Coleman; August 26, 1918 – February 24, 2020) was an American mathematician whose calculations of
orbital mechanics
Orbital mechanics or astrodynamics is the application of ballistics and celestial mechanics to the practical problems concerning the motion of rockets and other spacecraft. The motion of these objects is usually calculated from Newton's laws of ...
as a
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
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, she earned a reputation for mastering complex manual calculations and helped pioneer the use of computers to perform the tasks. The space agency noted her "historical role as one of the first
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
women to work as a NASA scientist".
Johnson's work included calculating trajectories,
launch window
In the context of spaceflight, launch period is the collection of days and launch window is the time period on a given day during which a particular rocket must be launched in order to reach its intended target. If the rocket is not launched wit ...
s, and emergency return paths for
Project Mercury
Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Un ...
spaceflights, including those for astronauts
Alan Shepard
Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) was an American astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot, and businessman. In 1961, he became the second person and the first American to travel into space and, in 1971, he beca ...
, the first American in space, and
John Glenn
John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was an American Marine Corps aviator, engineer, astronaut, businessman, and politician. He was the third American in space, and the first American to orbit the Earth, circling ...
, the first American in orbit, and rendezvous paths for the
Apollo
Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
Lunar Module
The Apollo Lunar Module (LM ), originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), was the lunar lander spacecraft that was flown between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface during the United States' Apollo program. It was the first crewed ...
and
command module on flights to the Moon. Her calculations were also essential to the beginning of the
Space Shuttle program
The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its ...
, and she worked on plans for
a mission to Mars. She was known as a "human computer" for her tremendous mathematical capability and ability to work with space trajectories with such little technology and recognition at the time.
In 2015, President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
awarded Johnson the
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merito ...
. In 2016, she was presented with the
Silver Snoopy Award
The Silver Snoopy award is a special honor awarded to NASA employees and contractors for outstanding achievements related to human flight safety or mission success. The award certificate states that it is "In Appreciation" "For professionalism, d ...
by NASA astronaut
Leland D. Melvin
Leland Devon Melvin (born February 15, 1964) is an American engineer and a retired NASA astronaut. He served on board the Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' as a mission specialist on STS-122, and as mission specialist 1 on STS-129. Melvin was named t ...
and a
NASA Group Achievement Award
The NASA Group Achievement Award (GAA) is an award given by NASA to groups of government or non-government personnel in recognition of group accomplishments contributing to NASA's mission. The criteria for earning the Group Achievement Award are ...
. She was portrayed by
Taraji P. Henson
Taraji Penda Henson ( ; born September 11, 1970) is an American actress. She studied acting at Howard University and began her Hollywood career in guest roles on several television shows before making her breakthrough in '' Baby Boy'' (2001). Sh ...
as a lead character in the 2016 film ''
Hidden Figures
''Hidden Figures'' is a 2016 American biographical drama film directed by Theodore Melfi and written by Melfi and Allison Schroeder. It is loosely based on the 2016 non-fiction Hidden Figures (book), book of the same name by Margot Lee Shetterl ...
''. In 2019, Johnson was awarded the
Congressional Gold Medal
The Congressional Gold Medal is an award bestowed by the United States Congress. It is Congress's highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions by individuals or institutions. The congressional pract ...
by the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
.
In 2021, she was inducted into the
National Women's Hall of Fame
The National Women's Hall of Fame (NWHF) is an American institution incorporated in 1969 by a group of men and women in Seneca Falls, New York, although it did not induct its first enshrinees until 1973. As of 2021, it had 303 inductees.
Induc ...
.
Early life
Katherine Johnson was born as Creola Katherine Coleman on August 26, 1918, in
White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, to Joylette Roberta (née Lowe) and Joshua McKinley Coleman.
She was the youngest of four children. Her mother was a teacher and her father was a lumberman, farmer, and handyman. He also worked at the
Greenbrier Hotel.
Johnson showed strong mathematical abilities from an early age. Because
Greenbrier County
Greenbrier County () is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 32,977. Its county seat is Lewisburg. The county was formed in 1778 from Botetourt and Montgomery counties in Virginia.
History
P ...
did not offer public schooling for African-American students past the eighth grade, the Colemans arranged for their children to attend high school in
Institute, West Virginia
Institute is an unincorporated community on the Kanawha River in Kanawha County, West Virginia, United States. Interstate 64 and West Virginia Route 25 pass by the community, which has grown to intermingle with nearby Dunbar. As of 2018, the commu ...
. This school was on the campus of
West Virginia State College
West Virginia State University (WVSU) is a public historically black, land-grant university in Institute, West Virginia. Founded in 1891 as the West Virginia Colored Institute, it is one of the original 19 land-grant colleges and universities ...
(WVSC); Johnson was enrolled when she was ten years old.
The family split their time between Institute during the school year and White Sulphur Springs in the summer.
After graduation from high school at the age of 14, Johnson matriculated at WVSC, a
historically black college
Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...
.
She took every course in mathematics offered by the College. Several professors mentored her, including the chemist and mathematician
Angie Turner King
Angie Lena Turner King (December 9, 1905February 28, 2004) was an American chemist, mathematician, and educator. King was an instructor of chemistry and mathematics at West Virginia State High School, and a professor of chemistry and mathematic ...
, who had guided Coleman throughout high school, and
W. W. Schieffelin Claytor, the third African-American to receive a
doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...
in mathematics. Claytor added new mathematics courses just for Johnson. She graduated ''
summa cum laude
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
'' in 1937, with degrees in mathematics and French, at age 18.
Johnson was a member of
Alpha Kappa Alpha
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at the historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of sixteen stud ...
. She took on a teaching job at a black public school in
Marion Marion may refer to:
People
*Marion (given name)
*Marion (surname)
*Marion Silva Fernandes, Brazilian footballer known simply as "Marion"
*Marion (singer), Filipino singer-songwriter and pianist Marion Aunor (born 1992)
Places Antarctica
* Mario ...
, Virginia.
In 1939, after marrying her first husband, James Goble, she left her teaching job and enrolled in a graduate math program. She quit at the end of the first session and chose to focus on her family life.
She was the first African-American woman to attend graduate school at
West Virginia University
West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...
in
Morgantown, West Virginia
Morgantown is a city in and the county seat of Monongalia County, West Virginia, Monongalia County, West Virginia, United States, situated along the Monongahela River. The largest city in North-Central West Virginia, Morgantown is best known as th ...
. Through WVSC's president, Dr.
John W. Davis
John William Davis (April 13, 1873 – March 24, 1955) was an American politician, diplomat and lawyer. He served under President Woodrow Wilson as the Solicitor General of the United States and the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom ...
, she became one of three African-American students,
and the only woman, selected to integrate the graduate school after the 1938 United States Supreme Court ruling in ''
Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada'' required States which provided public higher education to white students to provide it to black students as well, either by establishing black colleges and universities or by admitting black students to previously white-only universities.
Career
![Katherine Johnson at NASA, in 1966](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Katherine_Johnson_at_NASA%2C_in_1966.jpg)
Johnson decided on a career as a research mathematician, although this was a difficult field for African Americans and women to enter. The first jobs she found were in teaching. At a family gathering in 1952, a relative mentioned that the
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a United States federal agency founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved and its assets ...
(NACA) was hiring mathematicians.
At the
Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory Langley may refer to:
People
* Langley (surname), a common English surname, including a list of notable people with the name
* Dawn Langley Simmons (1922–2000), English author and biographer
* Elizabeth Langley (born 1933), Canadian perform ...
, based in
Hampton
Hampton may refer to:
Places Australia
*Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia
*Hampton, New South Wales
*Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region
* Hampton, Victoria
Canada
* Hampton, New Brunswick
*Ha ...
, Virginia, near
Langley Field Langley may refer to:
People
* Langley (surname), a common English surname, including a list of notable people with the name
* Dawn Langley Simmons (1922–2000), English author and biographer
* Elizabeth Langley (born 1933), Canadian perform ...
, NACA hired African-American mathematicians as well as whites for their Guidance and Navigation Department. Johnson accepted a job offer from the agency in June 1953.
According to an oral history archived by the National Visionary Leadership Project:
At first she ohnsonworked in a pool of women performing math calculations. Katherine has referred to the women in the pool as virtual "computers who wore skirts". Their main job was to read the data from the black boxes of planes and carry out other precise mathematical tasks. Then one day, Katherine (and a colleague) were temporarily assigned to help the all-male flight research team. Katherine's knowledge of analytic geometry
In classical mathematics, analytic geometry, also known as coordinate geometry or Cartesian geometry, is the study of geometry using a coordinate system. This contrasts with synthetic geometry.
Analytic geometry is used in physics and engineerin ...
helped make quick allies of male bosses and colleagues to the extent that, "they forgot to return me to the pool". While the racial and gender barriers were always there, Katherine says she ignored them. Katherine was assertive, asking to be included in editorial meetings (where no women had gone before). She simply told people she had done the work and that she belonged.
From 1953 to 1958, Johnson worked as a
computer
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...
,
analyzing topics such as gust alleviation for aircraft. Originally assigned to the
West Area Computers
The West Computers (West Area Computing Unit, West Area Computers) were the African American, female mathematicians who worked as human computers at the Langley Research Center of NACA (predecessor of NASA) from 1943 through 1958. These women wer ...
section supervised by mathematician
Dorothy Vaughan
Dorothy Jean Johnson Vaughan (September 20, 1910 – November 10, 2008) was an American mathematician and human computer who worked for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), and NASA, at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Vir ...
, Johnson was reassigned to the Guidance and Control Division of Langley's Flight Research Division. It was staffed by white male engineers.
In keeping with the State of Virginia's racial segregation laws, and federal workplace segregation introduced under President
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
in the early 20th century, Johnson and the other African-American women in the computing pool were required to work, eat, and use restrooms that were separate from those of their white peers. Their office was labeled as "Colored Computers". In an interview with
WHRO-TV
WHRO-TV, virtual channel 15 (ultra high frequency, UHF digital terrestrial television, digital channel 31), is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) network affiliate#Member stations, member television station city of license, licensed to both Hamp ...
, Johnson stated that she "didn't feel the segregation at NASA, because everybody there was doing research. You had a mission and you worked on it, and it was important to you to do your job ... and play bridge at lunch." She added: "I didn't feel any segregation. I knew it was there, but I didn't feel it."
NACA disbanded the colored computing pool in 1958 when the agency was superseded by NASA, which adopted digital computers. Although the installation was desegregated,
forms of discrimination were still pervasive. Johnson recalled that era:
We needed to be assertive as women in those days – assertive and aggressive – and the degree to which we had to be that way depended on where you were. I had to be. In the early days of NASA women were not allowed to put their names on the reports – no woman in my division had had her name on a report. I was working with Ted Skopinski and he wanted to leave and go to Houston ... but Henry Pearson, our supervisor – he was not a fan of women – kept pushing him to finish the report we were working on. Finally, Ted told him, "Katherine should finish the report, she's done most of the work anyway." So Ted left Pearson with no choice; I finished the report and my name went on it, and that was the first time a woman in our division had her name on something.
From 1958 until her retirement in 1986, Johnson worked as an aerospace technologist, moving during her career to the Spacecraft Controls Branch. She calculated the trajectory for the May 5, 1961, space flight of
Alan Shepard
Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) was an American astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot, and businessman. In 1961, he became the second person and the first American to travel into space and, in 1971, he beca ...
, the first American in space.
She also calculated the
launch window
In the context of spaceflight, launch period is the collection of days and launch window is the time period on a given day during which a particular rocket must be launched in order to reach its intended target. If the rocket is not launched wit ...
for his 1961
Mercury mission. She plotted backup
navigation
Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...
chart
A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...
s for
astronaut
An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...
s in case of electronic failures.
When NASA used electronic computers for the first time to calculate
John Glenn
John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was an American Marine Corps aviator, engineer, astronaut, businessman, and politician. He was the third American in space, and the first American to orbit the Earth, circling ...
's orbit around
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
, officials called on Johnson to verify the computer's numbers; Glenn had asked for her specifically and had refused to fly unless Johnson verified the calculations.
Biography.com
''Biography'' is an American documentary television series and media franchise created in the 1960s by David L. Wolper and owned by A&E Networks since 1987. Each episode depicts the life of a notable person with narration, on-camera interviews ...
states these were "far more difficult calculations, to account for the gravitational pulls of celestial bodies".
Author
Margot Lee Shetterly
Margot Lee Shetterly (born June 30, 1969) is an American non-fiction, nonfiction writer who has also worked in investment banking and media startups. Her first book, ''Hidden Figures (book), Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Stor ...
stated, "So the astronaut who became a hero, looked to this black woman in the still-segregated South at the time as one of the key parts of making sure his mission would be a success." She added that, in a time where computing was "women's work" and engineering was left to men, "it really does have to do with us over the course of time sort of not valuing that work that was done by women, however necessary, as much as we might. And it has taken history to get a perspective on that."
Johnson later worked directly with digital
computer
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...
s. Her ability and reputation for accuracy helped to establish confidence in the new technology.
In 1961, her work helped to ensure that Alan Shepard's ''
Freedom 7
Mercury-Redstone 3, or ''Freedom 7'', was the first United States human spaceflight, on May 5, 1961, piloted by astronaut Alan Shepard. It was the first crewed flight of Project Mercury. The project had the ultimate objective of putting an astr ...
'' Mercury capsule would be found quickly after landing, using the accurate trajectory that had been established.
![Katherine Johnson in 2008](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Katherine_Johnson_in_2008.jpg)
She also helped to calculate the trajectory for the 1969
Apollo 11 flight to the Moon.
During the Moon landing, Johnson was at a meeting in the
Pocono Mountains
The Pocono Mountains, commonly referred to as the Poconos , are a geographical, geological, and cultural region in Northeastern Pennsylvania. They overlook the Delaware River and Delaware Water Gap to the east, Lake Wallenpaupack to the north, W ...
. She and a few others crowded around a small
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
screen watching the first steps on the Moon.
In 1970, Johnson worked on the
Apollo 13 Moon mission. When the mission was aborted, her work on backup procedures and charts helped set a safe path for the crew's return to Earth,
creating a one-star observation system that would allow astronauts to determine their location with accuracy. In a 2010 interview, Johnson recalled, "Everybody was concerned about them getting there. We were concerned about them getting back."
Later in her career, Johnson worked on the
Space Shuttle program
The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its ...
, the Earth Resources Satellite,
and on plans for a
mission to Mars
''Mission to Mars'' is a 2000 American science fiction adventure film directed by Brian De Palma, written by Jim Thomas, John Thomas, and Graham Yost, and suggested by Disney's Mission to Mars (attraction), theme park attraction of the same nam ...
.
Johnson spent her later years encouraging students to enter the fields of
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is an umbrella term used to group together the distinct but related technical disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The term is typically used in the context of ...
(STEM).
Personal life and death
Katherine and James Francis Goble had three daughters: Constance, Joylette, and Katherine. The family lived in
Newport News
Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Uni ...
, Virginia, from 1953. James died of an inoperable
brain tumor
A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seconda ...
in 1956
and, three years later, Katherine married James A. "Jim" Johnson, a
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
officer and veteran of the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
; the pair were married for 60 years until his death in March 2019 at the age of 93.
Johnson, who had six grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren, lived in
Hampton
Hampton may refer to:
Places Australia
*Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia
*Hampton, New South Wales
*Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region
* Hampton, Victoria
Canada
* Hampton, New Brunswick
*Ha ...
, Virginia. She encouraged her grandchildren and students to pursue careers in science and technology.
She was a member of Carver Memorial
Presbyterian Church
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
for 50 years, where she sang as part of the choir. She was also a member of the
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.
Johnson died at a retirement home in Newport News on February 24, 2020, at age 101.
Following her death,
Jim Bridenstine
James Frederick Bridenstine (born June 15, 1975) is an American military officer and politician who served as the 13th administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Bridenstine was the United States representative fo ...
, NASA's administrator, described her as "an American hero" and stated that "her pioneering legacy will never be forgotten."
Legacy and honors
![Katherine Johnson medal](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Katherine_Johnson_medal.jpeg)
Johnson co-authored 26 scientific papers.
Her social influence as a pioneer in
space science
Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...
and
computing
Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, e ...
is demonstrated by the honors she received and her status as a role model for a life in science.
Johnson was named West Virginia State College Outstanding Alumnus of the Year in 1999. President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
presented her with the
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merito ...
, one of 17 Americans so honored on November 24, 2015. She was cited as a pioneering example of African-American women in
STEM
Stem or STEM may refer to:
Plant structures
* Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang
* Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure
* Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...
. President Obama said at the time, "Katherine G. Johnson refused to be limited by society's expectations of her gender and race while expanding the boundaries of humanity's reach."
NASA noted her "historical role as one of the first African-American women to work as a NASA scientist."
![Katherine Johnson at the Katherine G](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Katherine_Johnson_at_the_Katherine_G._Johnson_Computational_Research_Facility.jpg)
Two NASA facilities have been named in her honor. On May 5, 2016, a new building was named the "Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility" and formally dedicated at the agency's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The facility officially opened its doors on September 22, 2017.
Johnson attended this event, which also marked the 55th anniversary of astronaut Alan Shepard's historic rocket launch and splashdown, a success Johnson helped achieve. At the ceremony, deputy director Lewin said this about Johnson: "Millions of people around the world watched Shepard's flight, but what they didn't know at the time was that the calculations that got him into space and safely home were done by today's guest of honor, Katherine Johnson". During the event, Johnson also received a
Silver Snoopy
The Silver Snoopy award is a special honor awarded to NASA employees and contractors for outstanding achievements related to human flight safety or mission success. The award certificate states that it is "In Appreciation" "For professionalism, d ...
award; often called the astronaut's award, NASA stated it is given to those "who have made outstanding contributions to flight safety and mission success". NASA renamed the Independent Verification and Validation Facility, in Fairmont, West Virginia, to the
on February 22, 2019.
Johnson was included on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
of influence worldwide in 2016.
In a 2016 video NASA stated, "Her calculations proved as critical to the success of the Apollo Moon landing program and the start of the Space Shuttle program, as they did to those first steps on the country's journey into space."
for Women of NASA in 2016 and included Johnson; she declined to have her likeness printed on the final product. On May 12, 2018, she was awarded an
. In August 2018, West Virginia State University established a STEM scholarship in honor of Johnson and erected a life-size statue of her on campus.
doll in Johnson's likeness with a NASA identity badge in 2018. In 2019, Johnson was announced as one of the members of the inaugural class of ''
named the largest building on their SciTech campus, the Katherine G. Johnson Hall.
In 2020,
, Washington, named its newest school the Katherine G. Johnson Elementary.
On November 2, 2020,
, announced that the latter's school board had voted to rename its middle school, previously named after Confederate soldier, poet, and musician
to Katherine Johnson Middle School (KJMS), after 85 percent of its residents voiced their support in favor.
On November 6, 2020, a satellite named after her (
or "Katherine", COSPAR 2020-079G) was launched into space. In February 2021, Northrop Grumman named its
the ''SS Katherine Johnson'' in her honor.
In 2021, San Juan Unified School District, in Sacramento, California named its newest school Katherine Johnson Middle School.
of the same title by Margot Lee Shetterly, which was published earlier that year. It follows Johnson and other female African-American mathematicians (
) who worked at NASA.
plays Johnson in the film.
, Johnson received a standing ovation from the audience. In an earlier interview, Johnson offered the following comment about the movie: "It was well done. The three leading ladies did an excellent job portraying us." In a 2016 episode of the
,'' titled "Space Race", the mathematician is portrayed by Nadine Ellis.
* 1971, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1986: NASA Langley Research Center Special Achievement award
presented to the Lunar Spacecraft and Operations team – for pioneering work in the field of navigation supporting the spacecraft that orbited and mapped the Moon in preparation for the
, Norfolk, Virginia
* 2014, De Pizan Honor from National Women's History Museum
* 2015, NCWIT Pioneer in Tech Award
* 2015,
's Arthur B.C. Walker II Award
* 2016, Presidential Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from
, Morgantown, West Virginia
*On December 1, 2016, Johnson received the Langley West Computing Unit
. Other awardees included her colleagues, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson.
*2017,
and its Faculty of Science conferred Johnson with the degree of ''Philosophiae Doctor Honoris causa'' for her pioneering role at NASA.
*November 8, 2019,
'' unpublished manuscript 1994, NASA Langley Archives.
* Brigham Narins, ''Notable Scientists: From 1900 to the Present'', Gale Group, 2001, .
*
*
*
*
WHRO, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Katherine