This week, the world lost a pioneer. Earlier this morning NASA announced via Twitter that mathematician and ‘Hidden Figure’ Katherine Johnson had passed away at age 101.
“We’re saddened by the passing of celebrated #HiddenFigures mathematician Katherine Johnson,” NASA tweeted. “Today, we celebrate her 101 years of life and honour her legacy of excellence that broke down racial and social barriers.”
Johnson was portrayed in the 2016 Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures, which told the story of a group of African-American female mathematicians who helped play a pivotal role in astronaut John Glenn’s 1962 launch into orbit, facing struggles with racial and sexual discrimination along the way.
The film shone a light on this awe-inspiring group of pioneers and how Katherine Johnson’s skill proved indispensable in helping the first American get into space – however, this trailblazer was so much more than a character in a film.
![Hidden Figures | Teaser Trailer [HD] | 20th Century FOX](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/RK8xHq6dfAo/hqdefault.jpg)
Katherine Johnson was born in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia in 1918. She was incredibly brilliant from a young age and by 14, had already graduated from high school. Johnson continued to excel and graduated from West Virginia State at 18 years old, becoming the third African-American to receive a PhD in mathematics.
After working as a teacher and caring for her family, Johnson worked as a “computer” at NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, from 1953 to 1958. During this time, Johnson and other African-American women in the computing pool were required to work, eat, and use restrooms separated from their white peers due to racial segregation laws.
From 1958 until retiring in 1986, Johnson worked as an aerospace technologist and helped calculate the trajectory for a number of space flights, including the 1969 Apollo 11 flight to the Moon. In 2015, Johnson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Speaking of space, listen to the GOAT team chat with Neil deGrasse Tyson and Ann Druyan on It’s Been A Big Day For…below:
“My dad taught us, ‘You are as good as anybody in this town, but you’re no better,'” she told NASA in 2008. “I don’t have a feeling of inferiority. Never had. I’m as good as anybody, but no better.”
Following her death, Johnson received tributes from Hillary Clinton, Margot Lee Shetterly, who wrote Hidden Figures, and Taraji P. Henson, who portrayed her in the film.
NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine put it best when he said Katherine Johnson was a “leader of our pioneering days.”
He said she “helped our nation enlarge the frontiers of space even as she made huge strides that also opened doors for women and people of colour in the universal quest to explore space.”
Rest in Peace, Katherine. Your legacy will continue to live on.
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