Early life 

Katherine Johnson was born on August 26, 1918, in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, as the youngest of four children. From an early age, she showed incredible talent for math, often counting everything around her. Because her hometown didn’t offer schooling for Black students beyond the eighth grade, her family moved over 100 miles so she could attend high school. At just 15 years old, she enrolled at West Virginia State College, where she graduated at 18 with highest honors in mathematics and French.

Career 

After graduating from college, Katherine Johnson began her career as a schoolteacher. She taught math and French at a public school for black students. In 1953, she joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), which would soon become what we know today as NASA. At NASA, she would perform complex mathematical calculations by hand. She stood out for her accuracy and intellect, quickly earning a spot on the flight research team.

Accomplishments 

Katherine Johnson accomplished many great feats throughout her career. She calculated the trajectory for Alan Shepard’s 1961 mission, making him the first American in space, and later verified the flight path for John Glenn’s 1962 orbit. She played a key role in the success of the Apollo 11 mission, which landed the first humans on the Moon, and helped develop emergency procedures that contributed to the safe return of the Apollo 13 crew. Over her career, she co-authored 26 scientific papers, a rare achievement for black women at the time. In recognition of her contributions, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2015 and had a NASA research facility named in her honor in 2017. Her story was also widely celebrated in the book and film Hidden Figures, which brought her legacy to global attention.

sources

https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/langley/katherine-johnson-biography/ https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/katherine-johnson#:~:text=Johnson%20was%20born%20in%20White,college%20when%20she%20was%2015. https://wams.nyhistory.org/growth-and-turmoil/cold-war-beginnings/katherine-johnson/