Katherine Johnson: NASA's Unsung Hero

Supercomputer brain

In a 2008 press interview, Katherine Johnson recounted the story of a historic flight of the Friendship 7 spacecraft, part of the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission. The flight, conducted on February 20, 1962, was the third manned space mission in the Mercury program, but the first time an American astronaut made a complete flight around Earth's orbit.

Ms. Katherine recounted that before the historic flight, NASA leaders had already made a detailed plan for the flight's journey through computers from the beginning. However, before boarding the spacecraft, astronaut John Glenn personally asked Ms. Katherine Johnson - the person in charge of manually checking the orbit tracking program - to recheck the entire journey with manual calculations. And he only agreed to control the flight if the manual calculations matched the results from the computer. And after a day and a half of checking, Ms. Katherine made important changes, ensuring that the spacecraft would take place in absolute safety.

This is just one of the important contributions of mathematician and scientist Katherine Johnson during her 33 years with NASA. It should be recalled that at that time, computers were not popular, most calculations were done manually, completely dependent on the human mind. It can be said that this was a great environment for minds like Katherine Johnson to show off their talents.

Katherine worked for NASA as a mathematician, responsible for calculating the mechanics of complex orbits. Her manual calculations with complex equations helped astronauts and engineers send rockets into the sky, take people to the Moon, and then bring them home safely.

Before astronaut John Glenn, it was Katherine who calculated the trajectory of the Mercury spacecraft carrying Alan Shepard - the first American in space. She also played an important role in calculating the route for the Apollo 11 space station. When talking about the first moment of setting foot on the Moon on July 21, 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong also thanked "female computer brains" like Katherine Johnson.

Forgotten talent

“I counted everything I saw around me, from the number of steps I took from home to school, the number of dishes I washed every day, and I also tried to count the stars in the sky…”, Katherine Johnson did not forget such details in her life story. During her lifetime, she did not need to be modest as she was famous for her special ability in mathematics and sensitivity to numbers from a very young age.

Born on August 26, 1918, Katherine was the youngest of four children in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, USA. From a young age, Katherine learned to read and write before going to school. At the age of 15, Katherine excelled in entering university and graduated valedictorian at the age of 18 with a degree in Mathematics and French. Her career began quite simply as a Math teacher, until she learned that the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) - the predecessor of NASA, was looking for people for the computing center to send humans into space for the first time. This was a task that required performing countless complex calculations that computers with their primitive development at that time could not meet.

Katherine met all the requirements of the hiring agency in 1953, with a job at the Langley Research Laboratory in Hampton, Virginia. However, she and some other colleagues had to sit in the “colored computer” room for people of color, were discriminated against and were not recognized for their expertise. It is not difficult to understand because in the 1950s, racism was still very severe in the United States. Until October 1958, the US government merged all activities related to space, renaming NACA the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Former President Barack Obama presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Katherine Johnson. Photo: Getty

At this time, after many efforts to respond to discrimination, Katherine finally participated in the closed meetings of the Flight Research Department, later the Aerospace Mechanics Department. Starting in 1961, Katherine and other colleagues of color were recognized properly, when they were allowed to participate in most of NASA's space projects. Especially the mark in the complete flight around the Earth in 1962. With the success that went down in history, Katherine then became a symbol of progress.

By 1986, she officially retired!

Although her career achievements were impressive, they were quickly forgotten with the rapid development of science, technology and computers. Despite the fact that in 2015, the then US President Barack Obama respectfully awarded Katherine the Presidential Medal of Freedom. But it was not until the movie “Hidden Figures” was released to global audiences in 2016 that the historical achievements of Katherine and her colleagues were widely known worldwide. Not only are they great minds, individuals like Katherine also need to be remembered in their journey to overcome and win the fight against racism and gender discrimination. As former President Barack Obama affirmed: “Katherine is a pioneer in breaking down the boundaries of race and gender and showing young people that anyone can achieve greatness in natural science and reach for the stars”!

The road that passes through NASA headquarters was renamed Hidden Figures (June 2019). Photo: NASA