Katherine Goble Johnson: The girl who loved to count Three hundred and sixty-five multiplied by twelve is four thousand three hundred and eighty. For years and years, we go to school and must have a math course to graduate. But who are the people that write all the books and come up with all the formulas and answers? Who are the people behind the math in NASA? We call them the Hidden Figures. Over the winter break I got the experience of watching the new movie Hidden Figures. Hidden Figures in about extraordinary African-American women at NASA, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson are the brains behind the launch of John Glenn. Katherine Johnson is the mathematician, Dorothy Vaughan was the bio-engineer, Mary Jackson was an Aeronautical
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I like to learn. You learn if you want to, so you got to want to learn.” Born in 1918 August 26th in a small town White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. She was fascinated by numbers. By ten years old she was a freshman in high school. But school for African-Americans stopped at eighth grade, her dad was determined for her to have a good education. So, he drove her 120 miles every day to institute, West Virginia so she could continue her education in high school. She would constantly skip grades because she was at a higher level than everyone else. She graduated from high school at 14 and college at 18. In 1953 she was 35 and spent her after years as a teacher and soon after a stay-at-home mom. She started working for NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics also known as NACA. NACA took a risk in hiring women mind-numbing and detailed work of measuring and calculating results of wind tunnel test in 1935. These women would have the title of a “computer.” This job was a perfect for Katherine Johnson fantastic mathematical skills to be put to work. “I counted everything. I counted the steps to the road, the steps to the church, the number of dished and silverware I washed… anything that could be counted, I did.” –Katherine
I like to learn. You learn if you want to, so you got to want to learn.” Born in 1918 August 26th in a small town White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. She was fascinated by numbers. By ten years old she was a freshman in high school. But school for African-Americans stopped at eighth grade, her dad was determined for her to have a good education. So, he drove her 120 miles every day to institute, West Virginia so she could continue her education in high school. She would constantly skip grades because she was at a higher level than everyone else. She graduated from high school at 14 and college at 18. In 1953 she was 35 and spent her after years as a teacher and soon after a stay-at-home mom. She started working for NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics also known as NACA. NACA took a risk in hiring women mind-numbing and detailed work of measuring and calculating results of wind tunnel test in 1935. These women would have the title of a “computer.” This job was a perfect for Katherine Johnson fantastic mathematical skills to be put to work. “I counted everything. I counted the steps to the road, the steps to the church, the number of dished and silverware I washed… anything that could be counted, I did.” –Katherine