Kathrine Johnson (1919-2020), the woman who quietly changed space exploration forever through precision and persistence

Paper number

IAC-21,E4,1,2,x62930

Author

Ms. Raveen Sidhu, Canada, University of British Columbia

Year

2021

Abstract

\begin{flushleft}This paper has been resubmitted to the 2021 IAC after acceptance and withdrawal from the 2020 IAC due to COVID-19.
\end{flushleft}
\begin{flushleft}Katherine Johnson (1918-2020, born Creola Katherine Coleman) will be remembered as an important
figure in scientific history in more ways than one. As one of the first African American women to work
for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), she played an extraordinary role in
feminism and representation for women and people of colour pursuing science, technology, engineering
and mathematics fields (STEM). She played a pivotal role in the first-ever moon landing- without her
precise calculations, the Apollo Moon landing program may not have had the same level of success that
it did. From amassing achievements such as receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom (presented to
her by Barack Obama in 2015) to being included on the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) list
of ’100 Influential Women Worldwide,’ Katherine Johnson has become a celebrated figure.\end{flushleft}
Johnson was born as the youngest of four children to Joylette and \begin{flushleft}Joshua Coleman and was raised in
White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. She later moved to Institute, West Virginia, aged only 10, to
obtain an education beyond an eighth-grade level as White Sulphur Springs did not have any high
schools for African Americans. By age 18, she had already graduated from college as an alumnus of
West Virginia State. Johnson later became the first African American woman to attend graduate school
at West Virginia University. In 1953, Johnson worked as a ’human computer.’ She analyzed data while
calculating complex mathematical figures for the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in
Virginia, and then in 1958 worked as an aerospace technologist where she would calculate trajectories
for missions such as the 1961 Mercury Mission, and the Apollo missions. It was at this position that she
would achieve some of her greatest feats that are featured with in-depth descriptions and explanations
throughout this paper.\end{flushleft}
\begin{flushleft}This paper will present Katherine Johnson’s biography and highlight her numerous contributions to
space exploration and will describe early-life influences that may have strengthened her passion for
STEM. The paper will also emphasize Kathrine Johnson’s persistence and resilience when facing racism
and sexism, and how she overcame these barriers to accomplish everything that she did.\end{flushleft}

Abstract document

IAC-21,E4,1,2,x62930.brief.pdf

Manuscript document

(absent)