Katherine Johnson

• Katherine Johnson was a pioneering NASA mathematician
• Her calculations contributed greatly to the success of the early US space travel missions
• The book 'Hidden Figures' and its 2016 film adaptation were based on the life and career of Katherine Johnson

Katherine Johnson was an American mathematician for NACA/NASA whose orbital calculations were vital to the success of the first crewed US space flights.

Johnson was born in 1918 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. She completed her degree in Mathematics and French in 1937, graduating at 18. After several teaching jobs, she decided to pursue a career as a mathematician. In 1953, Johnson began working as a computer for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA, later known as NASA). In 1957, after she provided calculations for a significant conference proceedings paper, 'Notes on Space Technology,' the trajectory of her career changed to focus on NACA's early space flight efforts.

In 1962, Johnson was asked to assist with the preparations for John Glenn's Friendship 7 orbital mission, a pivotal moment in the space race between the United States and the former Soviet Union. As the orbital flight was more complex than previous missions, NASA had to create a worldwide communications network utilising IBM computers linked to tracking stations around the globe. Although the IBM computers had been programmed with the orbital trajectory for the entire flight, Glenn insisted that Johnson check the equations prior to liftoff. He famously stated that if Johnson ‘says they are good,’ then he was ‘ready to go,’ such was his faith in her work.

Throughout her NASA career, Johnson authored 26 research papers and worked on many successful projects, including the Landsat satellite programme (formerly known as the Earth Resources Technology Satellite), and the space shuttle programme. However, she considered the calculations that helped synch Project Apollo's Lunar Module with the lunar-orbiting Command and Service Module to be her greatest contribution to space flight and exploration.

Johnson's contributions to the early US space missions helped lay the foundations for the advances in space travel for many years after her retirement in 1986. As a result, she was awarded America's highest civilian honour, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, by President Barack Obama in 2015.

Katherine Johnson died on February 24th 2020 aged 101. In a statement published following the news of her death, NASA Administrator James Bridenstine called her an American hero, noting that 'her pioneering legacy will never be forgotten.'