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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. Learn more about Vaughan’s life and career.
- Mary Jackson
In 1951 she started working at the National Advisory...
- Fortran
FORTRAN, computer programming language created in 1957 by...
- Mary Jackson
- Who Was Dorothy Johnson Vaughan?
- Early Life
- Career in Mathematics
- Working Under Segregated Conditions
- Work with NASA and The Space Program
- Later Life
Dorothy Johnson Vaughan was an African American mathematics teacher who became one of the leading mathematical engineers in early days of the aerospace industry. After the U.S. defense industry desegregated, Vaughan worked with leading computer operators and engineers, becoming an expert in the FORTRAN programming coding language at NASA. She worke...
Dorothy Johnson was born in Kansas City, Missouri on September 20, 1910. At age seven, her parents, Leonard and Anne Johnson, moved the family to Morgantown, West Virginia. She graduated from Beechurst High School in 1925, and four years later, received a Bachelor of Science degree from Wilberforce University in Ohio. In 1932, she married Howard Va...
For the next eleven years, Vaughan divided her time between being a homemaker and a mathematics teacher at Robert Russa Moton High School in Farmville, Virginia. In 1943, the family moved to Newport News, Virginia, and Vaughan was employed as a mathematician at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (the predecessor agency to NASA) in what...
However, even with the executive order, state and local laws required "colored" mathematicians to work separately from their white female counterparts. Vaughan was assigned to the segregated “West Area Computing” unit, where she was required to use separate dining and restroom facilities. At NACA, she was responsible for calculating mathematical co...
Vaughan led the West Area Computing program for a decade. Then in 1958, as NACA was transitioning into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the agency abolished the segregated working environment. Vaughan joined the new Analysis and Computation Division, becoming an expert FORTRAN programmer, and worked on the SCOUT (Solid Cont...
Vaughan sought but never received another management position at NASA. She retired in 1971. During the final decade of her career, Vaughan worked closely with fellow NASA mathematicians Katherine G. Johnson and Mary Jackson on the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, which brought confidence back to America’s space program. Vaughan died on No...
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And yet, facing these barriers, Dorothy Vaughan, a 39-year-old Black woman working as a “computer,” would become manager of the computing program at NACA and play a critical role in putting man on the moon. Figure 1: In 1943, Dorothy Vaughan was hired by NACA as a mathematician working in the computing pool, one of “the girls,” as ...
Dorothy Vaughan. Dorothy Jean Johnson Vaughan (September 20, 1910 – November 10, 2008) was an American mathematician and human computer who worked for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), and NASA, at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. In 1949, she became acting supervisor of the West Area Computers, the first ...
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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.
Jan 7, 2017 · Dorothy Johnson Vaughan was a teacher who became a leading mathematical engineer in the first aerospace program with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), and the first African American woman promoted to supervisor in the program. Vaughan was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on September 20, 1910, to Leonard and Anne Johnson.
Aug 21, 2019 · Photographs from Dorothy Vaughan's retirement party. Vaughan retired from NASA in 1971. Courtesy Vaughan Family / Nasa.gov Later Life and Legacy . 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 ...
Jun 27, 2023 · In 1949, Dorothy Vaughan was promoted to lead the group, making her the NACA’s first black supervisor, and one of the NACA’s few female supervisors. The Section Head title gave Dorothy rare Laboratory-wide visibility, and she collaborated with other well-known (white) computers like Vera Huckel and Sara Bullock on projects such as compiling ...
