Yahoo September 24, 2017
Katherine Johnson, one of the black women NASA employees highlighted in the movie Hidden Figures, helped the U.S. send its first astronaut, John Glenn, in orbit around the Earth by double-checking a computer's calculations related to the mission, The Independent reports. At the time, Johnson and other black NASA workers were relegated to the "colored only" section and vastly under-appreciated. The Civil Rights Acts, which ended such segregation, wasn't passed until 1964.
Over 50 years later, at age 99, Johnson is finally getting some of the recognition she deserves through NASA's Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility, where research and development for future NASA missions will take place. The $23 million, 37,000-square-foot building will include over 30 rooms of servers in a structure designed to save energy, according to a NASA factsheet.
On Friday, Johnson, other black women who worked as "human computers" alongside her, members of Black Girls Code, and others attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the center's opening. "You have been a trailblazer," Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said at the event. "When I think of Virginia and the history of what we’ve gone through... you’re at the top of that list."
When asked in an interview how she felt about it, she replied, "You want my honest answer? I think they’re crazy," according to a NASA press release. "I was excited at something new, always liked something new, but give credit to everybody who helped. I didn’t do anything alone but try to go to the root of the question and succeeded there."
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/hidden-figures-subject-katherine-johnson-190352762.html
