Tues - Feb 2nd
February brings Black History Month and we will be recognizing a special African American each day during our announcements. Today we are recognizing
Katherine Johnson (1918-2020)
You know her from the movie, “Hidden Figures”. Katherine Johnson, was a physicist and mathematician who helped launch the first use of digital electronic computers at NASA, the independent federal government agency that handles aerospace research, aeronautics, and the civilian space program. Her wisdom with numbers and accuracy was so highly regarded that her sign-off was paramount for NASA to modernize itself with digital computers. It was Johnson who was plucked out of the pool to work with an all-male flight research team. It was Johnson who helped calculate the orbit for the 1969 Apollo 11 flight to the moon. And it was Johnson who co-authored 26 scientific papers, which NASA still links to via its archives. Katherine Johnson, an African-American who we celebrate today for black history month.