“Meet Katherine Johnson, the African-American woman who earned the nickname “the human computer” at NASA during its space race golden age.
An upcoming movie called Hidden Figures will celebrate her life and those of her black female colleagues, all of whom did important work against unbelievable odds but whose stories have gone largely unknown.
In interviews, Johnson, now 97, remembers how her brilliant calculations—which she did largely by hand—forced NASA to accept her.
“I just happened to be working with guys,” she said, “and when they had briefings I asked permission to go. They said, ‘The girls don’t usually go.’ I said, ‘Is there a law?’ And they said, ‘No.’ So then my boss said, ‘Let her go.’”
To see my excitement level about the Hidden Figures movie, with Taraji P. Henson as Katherine Johnson, Janelle Monáe(!!!) as Mary Jackson, and Octavia Spencer as Dorothy Vaughan, click here.
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