Katherine Johnson

Katherine Johnson was an American mathematician and human computer whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights. During her 33-year career at NASA and its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, she earned a reputation for mastering complex manual calculations and helped pioneer the use of computers to perform tasks previously requiring humans. Her calculations included trajectories, launch windows and emergency return paths for the Mercury program flights of Alan Shepard and John Glenn, and rendezvous paths for the Apollo Lunar Module and command module. NASA itself noted her historical role as one of the first African-American women to work as a NASA scientist, at a time when segregation and exclusion routinely denied recognition to women mathematicians of color doing this work.