Go see 'Hidden Figures,' and take a young person! It will give a more positive outlook on what is possible if you work hard, do your best, and are prepared.
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Katherine Johnson
Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson (born August 26, 1918) is an African-American mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. manned spaceflights. During her 35-year career at NASA and its predecessor, she earned a reputation for mastering complex manual calculations and helped the space agency pioneer the use of computers to perform the tasks. Johnson's work included calculating trajectories, launch windows and emergency return paths for Project Mercury spaceflights, including those of astronauts Alan Shepard, the first American in space, and John Glenn, the first American in orbit, and rendezvous paths for the Apollo lunar lander and command module on flights to the Moon. Her calculations were also essential to the beginning of the Space Shuttle program, and she worked on plans for a mission to Mars. In 2015, President Barack Obama awarded Johnson the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was portrayed by Taraji P. Henson as a lead character in the 2016 film Hidden Figures. 2Early life Katherine Johnson was born Katherine Coleman in 1918 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, to Joylette and Joshua Coleman. She was the youngest of four children. Her mother was a teacher and her father was a lumberman, farmer, and handyman and worked at the Greenbrier Hotel.Johnson showed high mathematical abilities from an early age. Because Greenbrier County did not offer public schooling for African-American students past the eighth grade, the Colemans arranged for their children to attend high school at Institute, West Virgini
I'm always interested in learning something new.
I counted everything. I counted the steps to the road, the steps up to church, the number of dishes and silverware I washed... anything that could be counted, I did.
John Glenn's life will long be remembered for his time in space, his courage, and his service to all Americans.
I found what I was looking for at Langley. This was what a research mathematician did. I went to work every day for 33 years happy. Never did I get up and say I don't want to go to work.
Everything is physics and math.
Many professors tell you that you'd be good at this or that, but they don't always help you with that career path.
In math, you're either right or you're wrong.
I felt most proud on the success of the Apollo mission.
I was excited at something new, always liked something new, but give credit to everybody who helped. I didn't do anything alone but try to go to the root of the question and succeeded there.
We needed to be assertive as women in those days - assertive and aggressive - and the degree to which we had to be that way depended on where you were. I had to be.
Men don't pay attention to small things.
Everything was so new - the whole idea of going into space was new and daring. There were no textbooks, so we had to write them.
I don't have a feeling of inferiority. Never had. I'm as good as anybody, but no better.
Like what you do, and then you will do your best.
Take all the courses in your curriculum. Do the research. Ask questions. Find someone doing what you are interested in! Be curious!
We will always have STEM with us. Some things will drop out of the public eye and will go away, but there will always be science, engineering, and technology. And there will always, always be mathematics.
Girls are capable of doing everything men are capable of doing. Sometimes they have more imagination than men.