Tag: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

  • The unbelievable life of the forgotten genius who turned Americans’ space dreams into reality Business Insider 2016-08-22 Meghan Bartels There’s no protocol for women attending,” says a white man in a suit holding a sheaf of papers. “There’s no protocol for a man circling the Earth either, sir,” Taraji P. Henson retorts in my favorite…

  • Who Is Katherine Johnson? National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) 2016-12-30 Heather S. Deiss NASA Educational Technology Services Denise Miller NASA Educational Technology Services Katherine Johnson Credits: Katherine Johnson This article is part of the NASA Knows! (Grades 5-8) series. Katherine Johnson is an African-American mathematician who worked for NASA from 1953 until 1986. She was a human computer.…

  • On Being a Black Female Math Whiz During the Space Race The New York Times 2016-09-05 Cara Buckley, Culture Reporter Katherine Johnson, left, and Christine Darden, two of the former NASA mathematicians in the book “Hidden Figures.” Credit:  Chet Strange for The New York Times HAMPTON, Va. — Growing up here in the 1970s, in…

  • Katherine Johnson, the NASA Mathematician Who Advanced Human Rights with a Slide Rule and Pencil Vanity Fair September 2016 Charles Bolden, Administrator National Aeronautics and Space Administration Katherine Johnson, photographed at Fort Monroe, in Hampton, Virginia. Photograph by Annie Leibovitz NASA chief Charles Bolden recalls the historic trajectory of the “human computer” who played a…

  • Taraji P. Henson Is a Math Genius in ‘Hidden Figures’ First Trailer Variety 2016-08-15 Dave McNary, Film Reporter Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monae break the glass ceiling — among other barriers — in the first trailer for the NASA drama “Hidden Figures,” which debuted Sunday night during the Rio Olympics. The teaser…

  • NASA Facility Dedicated to Mathematician Katherine Johnson Space.com 2016-05-05 Sarah Lewin, Staff Writer Katherine Johnson, pictured here at NASA’s Langley Research Center, where she worked as a “computer” and mathematician from 1953 to 1986. Langley dedicated a computing facility to Johnson in a ceremony today (May 5). Credit: NASA NASA honored 97-year-old mathematician Katherine Johnson…

  • Mathematician Katherine Johnson at Work NASA History National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) 2016-02-25 Sarah Loff, Editor Image Credit: NASA NASA research mathematician Katherine Johnson is photographed at her desk at Langley Research Center in 1966. Johnson began her career in 1953 at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the agency that preceded NASA,…

  • Uncovering a Tale of Rocket Science, Race and the ’60s The New York Times 2016-05-22 Cara Buckley, Culture Reporter Janelle Monáe, left, Taraji P. Henson and Octavia Spencer in “Hidden Figures,” which is slated for release in January. Credit Hopper Stone/20th Century Fox ATLANTA — Taraji P. Henson hates math, and Octavia Spencer has a…

  • The ‘Human Computer’ Behind the Moon Landing Was a Black Woman The Daily Beast 2016-04-07 Nathan Place Image of Katherine Johnson at NASA Langley Research Center in 1971. In an age of racism and sexism, Katherine Johnson broke both barriers at NASA. She calculated the trajectory of man’s first trip to the moon, and was…

  • The Black Female Mathematicians Who Sent Astronauts to Space Mental Floss 2015-11-24 A. K. Whitney Katherine Johnson at NASA Langley Research Center in 1971. (Source NASA) Today, November 24, President Barack Obama awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom, considered the nation’s highest civilian honor, to 17 men and women. Among them is 97-year-old retired African-American…