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Creola Katherine Johnson (née Coleman; August 26, 1918 – February 24, 2020) was an American mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights.
Aug 22, 2024 · Katherine Johnson, American mathematician who calculated and analyzed the flight paths of many spacecraft during her more than three decades with the U.S. space program. Her work helped send astronauts to the Moon. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.
Nov 22, 2016 · Author of Hidden Figures. Nov 22, 2016. Article. Born: Aug. 26, 1918. Died: Feb. 24, 2020. Hometown: White Sulphur Springs, WV. Education: B.S., Mathematics and French, West Virginia State College, 1937. Hired by NACA: June 1953. Retired from NASA: 1986. Actress Playing Role in Hidden Figures: Taraji P. Henson. Biography by Margot Lee Shetterly.
Oct 10, 2016 · Best Known For: One of NASA's human 'computers,' Katherine Johnson performed the complex calculations that enabled humans to successfully achieve space flight.
Nearly two decades before the Little Rock Nine, Katherine Johnson was chosen as one of three Black students, and the first Black woman, to integrate West Virginia University and pursue graduate studies. She studied math, but soon left to start a family.
Feb 24, 2020 · Pioneering African-American Nasa mathematician Katherine Johnson has died at the age of 101. Nasa announced her death on Twitter, saying it was celebrating her life and honouring "her legacy of...
Katherine Johnson As a human computer, Katherine calculated the trajectory for astronaut Alan Shepard’s 1961 Freedom 7 mission to space – the first spaceflight for an American. Early on, when they said they wanted the capsule to come down at a certain place, they were trying to compute when it should start.