Limerick Astronomy Club: Katherine was a true pioneer

IT was with sadness that NASA recently reported the death of mathematician Katherine Johnson, whose contribution to the space programme was invaluable.

Born, Creola Katherine Coleman in August 1918 in West Virginia, Katherine Johnson, was a mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were essential to the success of US spaceflights.

Spanning a noted career, her work awarded her a reputation as a pioneer of mastering complex manual calculations. Throughout her time she calculated trajectories, launch windows and emergency return paths for spaceflights including those by astronauts Alan Shepard and John Glenn. Furthermore, she help calculate the rendezvous paths for the Apollo Lunar Module and command module on flights to the Moon and even worked on plans for a Mars Mission.

Her career was hard fought for due to her ethnic background and NASA noted her "historical role as one of the first African-American women to work as a NASA scientist". Katherine developed her strong mathematical prowess as a young age, however her home county did not offer public schooling for African-American students past the eighth grade. Her parents encouraged their children’s educational careers and so enrolled them on a new school where they could further their education. Her keenness for mathematical studies was noted by her teachers as she enrolled in every math class offered. After an initial career as teacher, Katherine decided to focus on a career as a research mathematician, a job that was hard for an African-American woman of the time. NACA (which preceded NASA), hired Katherine as a ‘human computer’. As she excelled in her career in a white-male dominated section she needed to keep in-line with the state racial segregation which meant that African-American women were required to work, eat, and use restrooms that were separate from those of their white peers.

In 2015, President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom followed by a Silver Snoopy Award on 2016 and in 2019 she was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for her notable career. The movie ‘Hidden Figures’ is based on the early part of Katherine’s life and is definitely worth viewing.

Limerick Astronomy Club meet the first Thursday of every month in room G10 in Mary I: email limerickastronomyclub @gmail.com