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At a time when we can perform any mathematical calculation with the mobile or the clock, but almost five decades ago that no human step on the Moon, it is hard to imagine the importance of a work like that performed by Katherine Johnson . She was the first woman of color who studied at the University of West Virginia, but also one of the so-called human calculators of NASA, whose mathematical precision depended on the lives of astronauts.
When the United States and the Soviet Union competed to dominate the world by showing their aerospace power, but computers got stuck or collapsed more than the account, manual calculations were a fundamental tool in the successes of the US agency. Johnson worked there 33 years, from 1953 to 1986. Sitting in front of his mechanical calculator, from there he supported the great era of manned flights. After her death at 101, NASA has remembered her as a "pioneer of racial equality," as well as "one of the most inspiring profiles" in the institution's history.
A defining moment in Johnson's life, but also for the space race, occurred in preparations for what would be NASA's first orbital flight, starring astronaut John Glenn. The year was 1962 and only four people had flown into space. Two, Yuri Gagarin and Gherman Titov, were Soviet. The other two, the Americans Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom, had done so for NASA, but on suborbital flights. Glenn's, therefore, was to be the first demonstration that the United States was also able to put astronauts in orbit, at a time when the Soviets seemed to take the lead.
The mission, which Glenn himself dubbed Friendship 7 , depended on an extensive communications network distributed by stations across the globe and managed by IBM computers from Washington, Cape Canaveral and the Bermuda Islands. It was up to the reliability of the orbital equations that engineers could follow the flight path from the ground, from the launch of the Mercury ship, on the back of an Atlas rocket, to the descent of the capsule over the Atlantic Ocean.
But Glenn, an experienced test pilot and veteran of the Korean War, was worried about putting his life in the hands of the machines. "Call the girl (get the girl)," he demanded that the engineers carry out the checks. "If she says it's okay, I'm ready to go." He was referring to Katherine Johnson, who reviewed the equations by hand with his mechanical calculating machine and thereby reassured him that he would soon become an American hero, after completing three orbits around the Earth and showing the world that the United States He was able to stand up to the Soviets.
In fact, the Apollo program would soon be launched, the only one that, to date, has managed to bring people to the Moon, and in which Katherine Johnson would also participate. She herself considered as the greatest achievement of her career the calculations she made to help synchronize the lunar module, which descended on the surface of the satellite, with the command and service module, which remained orbiting the Moon. When Neil Armstrong said that "this is a small step for man ...", Johnson's mathematical expertise also accompanied him.
Together with her, other African-American women, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson , composed the group of the so-called human calculators of NASA, whose efforts in the shadow, both for space exploration and for overcoming racial discrimination, inspired the movie Hidden Figures ( Hidden figures , 2016), based, in turn, on the book of the same name written by Margot Lee Shetterly.
"Enlarged the borders"
"Mrs. Johnson helped our nation to widen the boundaries of space while she took huge steps that also opened the doors to women and people of color in the human and universal search for space exploration," NASA said. it's a statement. "His dedication and math skills helped bring astronauts to the Moon and before that made it possible for our astronauts to take their first steps in space."
Born in the small town of White Sulfur Springs (West Virginia, United States) on August 26, 1918, Katherine Johnson was elected at age 18, being a school teacher, as one of the first three people of color who could study in the University of West Virginia. There he found support and inspiration in his WW professor Schieffelin Claytor, who had been the third African-American to obtain a PhD in Mathematics.
In 1952, a relative told him that NACA, a precursor to NASA, offered jobs for people of color in their computer area. Johnson moved with her husband to Newsport News (Virginia) and began working in Langley's laboratory, which would soon become one of the nerve centers of space exploration, in the summer of 1953.
"His strength of character, courage and mathematical expertise helped America to leave inequality behind to achieve something that many thought was impossible," said Clayton P. Turner, current director of NASA's Langley Center, where today there is a building His name is Katherine Johnson.
NASA has also noted that, in 2015, at age 97, Johnson received a "much deserved" Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civil honor in the United States, from the hands of then President Barack Obama. The White House framed the act as part of its project to illuminate the "untold story" of women in scientific and technological development. A story that did not take the spotlights but whose importance, at least in the case of Johnson, his colleagues were clear. Starting with that John Glenn who did not want to be launched into space without her checking the numbers.
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