(CNN) – Without the precision of Katherine Johnson, the “human computer,” NASA’s story could have been very different. Their calculations and operations allowed to send humans to space safely and give U.S the leadership in the space race with the Soviet Union.
For most of his life, his research on space travel went unnoticed, and it wasn’t until recently that he gained national recognition.
Johnson, a pioneer mathematician who, along with a group of brilliant black women made space travel in the United States possible, died this week at the age of 101.
NASA announced Johnson’s death this Monday.
Johnson was part of the NASA Computer Pool, a group of mathematicians whose data drove the first successful NASA space missions. The group’s success depended heavily on the achievements of the black women who were part of it.
His work was not recognized to a large extent until the release of “Hidden Figures” in 2017, a cinematic version of Johnson’s achievements when the space agency was still segregated.
An early talent
Johnson was born in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia, in 1918. His talent for mathematics was immediately apparent, and he was one of three black students chosen for postgraduate degrees from West Virginia universities, according to his biography at NASA.
She began her career as a teacher but her main interest was mathematical research.
After a decree that prohibited the discrimination Racial in the defense industry, Johnson was hired at NACA, the National Aeronautics Advisory Committee and predecessor of NASA. She was one of several black researchers with university degrees hired by the agency’s aeronautical laboratory through the initiative.
It began in 1953 in the segregated wing for women of the facility before being transferred to the Flight Research Division, where it remained for several years.
But in the mid-50s, the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union began to intensify. Also Johnson’s career.
He was commissioned to perform trajectory analysis for the 1961 Alan Shepherd mission, the first American human space flight. She co-authored an article on the safety of orbital landings in 1960, the first time a woman from the Flight Research Division received credit for a report.
Although she used to be the only woman in meetings, she quickly became famous for her accuracy. John Glenn requested his help before orbit around Earth in 1962. Glenn was skeptical of the computers that calculated the trajectory of his spaceship, so he told engineers to “bring the girl” and compare their calculations manuals with those of the computer.
“‘ If she says they’re fine, then I’m ready to go, “Johnson recalled that Glenn said.
She gave her approval, and Glenn’s flight was a success. His mission, and Johnson’s role in it, helped the United States lead the space race.
By the time Johnson retired from NASA in 1986, he had mapped the surface of the moon before the 1969 landing and helped astronauts aboard Apollo 13 to land safely on Earth.
His work was ignored for decades
After the release of the book “Hidden Figures”, which was published in 2016 and adapted to the cinema the following year, Johnson received high praise from the authorities, along with his black math companions from the Computer Pool, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson.
NASA changed the name of an installation in honor of Johnson in February 2019. A street in front of the NASA headquarters in Washington was renamed “Hidden Figures Way” in honor of the three women in July. And in November, the three mathematics and engineer Christine Darden received Gold Medals from Congress for their contributions to space travel. Vaughan and Jackson received theirs posthumously.
In 2015, President Barack Obama honored Johnson with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his fundamental work in space travel.
But before all this, Johnson’s work went unnoticed. In the 1960s, she and her colleagues were known in the office as “laptops” and worked in a segregated facility.
The compliments to his work were late, but Johnson never wanted to take all the praise. “We always work as a team,” he said in an interview in 2010. “He is never a single person.”
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