Katherine Johnson was born on August 26, 1918 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia to Joylette and Joshua Coleman. Her mother was a teacher and her father was a farmer and janitor. Katherine enjoyed mathematics and could easily solve mathematical equations. Her family moved to Institute, West Virginia so that Katherine and her siblings could attend school.
Education Johnson attended West Virginia State High School and graduated at just 14 years old. At age 15 Katherine started attending West Virginia State College now West Virginia State University. Dr. W.W. Schieffelin Claytor was the third African American to earn a PhD degree in mathematics, created a special course specifically for Katherine in analytic geometry. In 1940, she attended …show more content…
Katherine’s confidence got her a spot in the “all male meetings”. Upon leaving The Flight Mechanics Branch, Johnson went on to join the Spacecraft Controls Branch where she calculated the flight trajectory for Alan Shepard, the first American to go into space in 1959. Johnson also verified the mathematics behind John Glenn’s orbit around the Earth in 1962 and calculated the flight trajectory for Apollo 11’s flight to the moon in 1969. She retired from NASA in 1986.Johnson has been the recipient of NASA’s Lunar Spacecraft and Operations Group Achievement Award and NASA’s Apollo Group Achievement Award. She received the NASA Langley Research Center Special Achievement Award in 1971, 1980, 1984, 1985 and 1986. Johnson has co-authored twenty-six scientific papers and has a historically unique listing as a female co-author in a peer-reviewed NASA report. She also received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the State University of New York in Farmingdale in 1998 and in 1999, was named Outstanding Alumnus of the Year by West Virginia State College. In 2006, Johnson was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science from Capitol College of Laurel, Maryland. Johnson lives with her husband Lt. Colonel James A. Johnson in Hampton, Virginia and has three daughters Constance, Joylette and …show more content…
She has also showed that your skin color, race, or religion does not classify you as unworthy or
Education Johnson attended West Virginia State High School and graduated at just 14 years old. At age 15 Katherine started attending West Virginia State College now West Virginia State University. Dr. W.W. Schieffelin Claytor was the third African American to earn a PhD degree in mathematics, created a special course specifically for Katherine in analytic geometry. In 1940, she attended …show more content…
Katherine’s confidence got her a spot in the “all male meetings”. Upon leaving The Flight Mechanics Branch, Johnson went on to join the Spacecraft Controls Branch where she calculated the flight trajectory for Alan Shepard, the first American to go into space in 1959. Johnson also verified the mathematics behind John Glenn’s orbit around the Earth in 1962 and calculated the flight trajectory for Apollo 11’s flight to the moon in 1969. She retired from NASA in 1986.Johnson has been the recipient of NASA’s Lunar Spacecraft and Operations Group Achievement Award and NASA’s Apollo Group Achievement Award. She received the NASA Langley Research Center Special Achievement Award in 1971, 1980, 1984, 1985 and 1986. Johnson has co-authored twenty-six scientific papers and has a historically unique listing as a female co-author in a peer-reviewed NASA report. She also received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the State University of New York in Farmingdale in 1998 and in 1999, was named Outstanding Alumnus of the Year by West Virginia State College. In 2006, Johnson was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science from Capitol College of Laurel, Maryland. Johnson lives with her husband Lt. Colonel James A. Johnson in Hampton, Virginia and has three daughters Constance, Joylette and …show more content…
She has also showed that your skin color, race, or religion does not classify you as unworthy or