Katherine Johnson
Katherine Johnson was an American mathematician whose calculations were essential to early U.S. space missions, including John Glenn's 1962 orbital flight and the Apollo 11 moon landing.
She worked at NASA for over three decades, breaking barriers as a Black woman in a segregated workplace.
Her story gained wide recognition through the 2016 film *Hidden Figures*.
- NASAFederal space exploration bureau
- mission controlEarth-based space operations hub
- space raceContest for orbital superiority
- mathematicianProfessional in abstract quantities
- astronautSpacecraft crew member
trajectory · space · calculations · orbit · computer · Glenn · Mercury · Apollo · segregation · brilliant · pioneering · right stuff · physicist · African American · Langley · moonshot · rocket science · slide rule
- notable womenRosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, Eleanor Roosevelt, Florence Nightingale, Susan B. Anthony
- American ScientistsBenjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, Richard Feynman, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Carl Sagan
- Unsung Heroesvolunteer, caregiver, blood donor, organ donor, foster parent
- aerospace pioneersWernher von Braun, Margaret Hamilton, Mary Jackson
- Black IconsMartin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Jackie Robinson
- Tech PioneersAlan Turing, Shannon, Grace Hopper, Ada Lovelace, Charles Babbage
Katherine Johnsonunsung hero
One whose contributions go unnoticed
Wernher von Braun · John Glenn · Neil Armstrong · self-promoter · plagiarist
Katherine JohnsonWernher von Braun
German-American aerospace engineer
pseudoscientist · flat-earther · anti-intellectual · saboteur
Katherine Johnsonsegregationist
Advocate for racial division
segregationists · George Wallace · gatekeeper · discriminator · barriers to entry