Cross-Link: Women in the Cold War

 Hidden Figures Trailer 

A short clip introducing Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan 

at the beginning of the movie.

Dorothy Vaughan

 Hidden Stories: Dorothy Vaughan  

           Hidden Figures: Dorothy Vaughan Fixes the IBM computer

          Hidden Figures: Dorothy Vaughan Teaches Fortran (Computer Language)

•  Mathematician Dorothy Vaughan worked as a human computer at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), which later transitioned into NASA.

• She worked in the segregated group of African-American woman at Langley Research Center who solved complex mathematical calculations by hand. She specialized in flight paths, the Scout family of rockets and FORTRAN computer programming, going on to become NACA’s first Black supervisor.

• Intuiting the rise of machine computers over human computers, she had the foresight to begin teaching women programming languages to prepare them for the transition and ensure they weren't out of a job. She is featured in the movie Hidden Figures.

Katherine Johnson

 Katherine Johnson: Trailblazing NASA Mathematician 

            Calculating the Mathematics of John Glenn's Space Flight

• Despite being forced to work under segregated conditions, Katherine Johnson and her brilliance with numbers played a pivotal role in the US's first space missions.

• During her NASA career, she calculated the trajectories, launch windows, and emergency back-up return paths for many flights of Project Mercury, the US’s first human spaceflight program, and the Apollo 11 flight to the moon.

• When NASA began to use electronic computers for their calculations, astronaut John Glenn refused to fly unless Johnson verified that all the numbers were correct.

• In 2015, at the of age 97, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama, America’s highest civilian honor.

Biography:  Katherine Johnson 

Katherine Johnson Interview

https://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/bios/neilabio.html

Mary W. Jackson

 Hidden Figures: Mary Jackson represents herself in court 

             Mary Jackson First Black Woman Engineer at NASA

             NASA names its headquarters for Mary W. Jackson, Feb. 26, 2021  (01.50 one minute fifty seconds)

             Hidden No Longer: Mary W. Jackson and Her NASA Legacy (50 minute history interviews)

• Mary Jackson began her career as a mathematics teacher, before becoming a human computer at NASA.

• She petitioned the City of Hampton to allow her to attend an all-white engineering evening program and won, becoming NASA’s first black female engineer. Her work revolved around understanding air flow, with the aim to improve the aerodynamics of planes.

• After achieving the most senior title within the engineering department, she took a demotion in order to work in the Equal Opportunity Specialist field, to make changes, support and highlight women and other minorities in the field.