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- Dorothy Vaughan taught high school for 14 years during the era of racially segregated education. In 1943, during World War II, she took a job at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA, the predecessor to NASA) as a computer.
www.thoughtco.com › dorothy-vaughan-4686791Biography of Dorothy Vaughan, Groundbreaking NASA Mathematician
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Jun 27, 2023 · Dorothy Vaughan came to the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in 1943, during the height of World War II, leaving her position as the math teacher at Robert Russa Moton High School in Farmville, VA to take what she believed would be a temporary war job.
Mar 14, 2024 · Dorothy Vaughan, American mathematician and computer programmer who made important contributions to the early years of the U.S. space program and who was the first African American manager at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which later became part of NASA.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- How did Dorothy Vaughan become famous?Dorothy Vaughan was a computer programmer who made important contributions to the U.S. space program. She was relatively unknown until 2016, when a...
- What was Dorothy Vaughan’s job?Dorothy Vaughan performed complex computations and analyzed data for aerospace engineers, work that was later essential to the success of the early...
- Why was Dorothy Vaughan significant?Dorothy Vaughan’s employer, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, was segregated, and black employees were forced to use separate bathro...
- Early Life
- From Teacher to Computer
- Supervisor and Innovator
- Later Life and Legacy
- Sources
Dorothy Vaughan was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the daughter of Leonard and Annie Johnson. The Johnson family soon moved to Morgantown, West Virginia, where they stayed throughout Dorothy’s childhood. She quickly proved to be a talented student, graduating early from high school at the age of 15 as her graduating class’ valedictorian. At Wilberf...
Although Vaughan was encouraged by her professors at Wilberforce to go to graduate school at Howard University, she declined, instead taking a job at Robert Russa Moton High School in Farmville, Virginia, so that she could help support her family during the Great Depression. During this time, she and her husband Howard had six children: two daughte...
In 1949, Dorothy Vaughan was assigned to supervise the West Area Computers, but not in an official supervisory role. Instead, she was given the role as acting head of the group (after their previous supervisor, a white woman, died). This meant the job didn’t come with the expected title and pay bump. It took several years and advocating for herself...
Dorothy Vaughan worked at Langley for 28 years while raising six children (one of whom followed in her footsteps and worked at NASA’s Langley facility). In 1971, Vaughan finally retired at the age of 71. She continued to be active in her community and her church throughout retirement, but lived a fairly quiet life. Vaughan died on November 10, 2008...
Shetterly, Margot Lee. Dorothy Vaughan Biography. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.Shetterly, Margot Lee. Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race. William Morrow & Company, 2016.- Amanda Prahl
Her career in this field kicked off during the height of World War II. She came to the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory thinking that it would be a temporary war job. One of her children later worked at NACA. [7]
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- November 10, 2008 (aged 98), Hampton, Virginia, U.S.
- Dorothy Jean Johnson Vaughan, September 20, 1910, Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
Nov 10, 2008 · Her career thus began at the height of World War II. In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, to desegregate the defense industry, and Executive Order 9346 to end racial segregation and discrimination in hiring and promotion among federal agencies and defense contractors. [8]
Nov 14, 2016 · QUICK FACTS. Name: Dorothy Vaughan. Birth Year: 1910. Birth date: September 20, 1910. Birth State: Missouri. Birth City: Kansas City. Birth Country: United States. Gender: Female. Best Known For ...
