NetMath

Katherine Johnson was born August 26, 1918 and died on this day, February 24, 2020. She attended the HBCU West Virginia State College and was one of the first three Black students to integrate the graduate school at West Virginia. She began working for NASA (named NACA at the time) in June 1953. It was in 1962 when Katherine Johnson did the calculations by hand verifying the computer work in preparation of John Glenn’s Friendship 7 mission. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 by President Barack Obama at the age of 97. (credit: https://www.nasa.gov/content/katherine-johnson-biography)