In the late 19th and early 20th century, computers at Harvard University analyzed star photos to learn more about their basic properties. The best scenes in Hidden Figures show Johnson and Harrison hard at work on hammering out the data for entry and re-entry that will support Glenn's Friendship 7 capsule as it … In preparation for the 2017 release of 20th Century Fox's new motion-length film Hidden Figures, here are five awesome facts I learned from my interview with the author of the best-selling novel, Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race, Margot Lee Shetterly. Segregation was ended in 1958 when NACA became NASA, at which point NASA created an analysis and computation division. Receive mail from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors? Johnson showed early brilliance in West Virginia schools by being promoted several years ahead of her age, according to NASA. As a computer with the all-black West Area Computing section, she was involved with wind tunnels and flight experiments. Katherine Johnson did trajectory analysis for Alan Shepard's mission in 1961 and John Glenn's mission in 1962. Hopper Stone; Smith Collection/Gado/Getty. Hidden Figures tells the astounding true story of three black women who made it possible for America to win the space race of the 1960s. Hidden Figures: the incredible real history behind the film Save over 50% on a BBC History Magazine or BBC History Revealed gift subscription Revealing the inspirational untold story of female African-American mathematicians working at NASA during the 1960s, the film Hidden Figures is based on a book by Margot Lee Shetterly. Space is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Hopper Stone, Credit: Katherine Johnson, 98, the Real-Life Inspiration for Hidden Figures, Joins Stars on Oscars Stage Katherine Johnson, 98, the Real-Life Inspiration ... All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab; She retired from NASA in 1971. Johnson died on Feb. 24, 2020 at age 101. Publisher's Weekly Kirkus From the hidden figures of the past to the scientists and engineers of today, you can go to NASA's website to meet the diverse range of extraordinary people with their eyes on the stars. Her job was to extract the relevant data from experiments and flight tests. There was a problem. Is Jim Parsons' character, NASA engineer Paul Stafford, based on a real person? However, segregation policies required that these women work in a separate section, called the West Area Computers — although computing sections became more integrated after the first several years. Published on Dec 5, 2016 OUAT Founder and Owner Ryan Heathcock spoke with Margot Lee Shetterly, author of the book, Hidden Figures. “And I went to an historically black university, where Ron McNair – who died in the [Space Shuttle] launch to space – [had attended]. Dorothy Vaughan, portrayed by Oscar winner Octavia Spencer in the film, paved the way for minorities, including Johnson, by becoming NASA’s first African-American manager. However, she stayed on after the war and was asked to helm the West Area Computing Unit after Jim Crow laws required segregation of the African-American women from their white counterparts. Thank you for signing up to Space. Four African American women known as the "Hidden Figures" who worked at NASA during the Space Race are being awarded Congressional Gold Medals, the highest civilian award in … In 1953, she found work at NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which had begun hiring African-American woman during World War II. I was mad. NY 10036. Kevork Djansezian/WireImage, Credit: The computers worked at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in Virginia. But hey, who am I? "She also worked on the space shuttle and the Earth Resources Satellite, and authored or coauthored 26 research reports.". She went on to work on the Redstone, Mercury and Apollo space programs, calculating the trajectory for Alan Shepard, the first American in space, and Glenn’s historic orbit. She quickly enrolled, but left to have children. Empire‘s Henson plays Johnson, a brilliant mathematician who began working at NASA in its earliest days, beginning in the 1950s. Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan were African-American mathematicians who played an integral part in NASA’s space-race successes — but their collective contribution was largely left out of the history books. Despite her many accomplishments, Johnson, who turned 98 this past summer, always remained humble. The First Human computers were not a new concept. For NASA TV streaming video, schedule and downlink information, visit: These women were indeed real, amazing people, but how accurate is Hidden Figures? And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com. Credit: Here are brief biographies of these women. She retired from NASA in 1985. Reference article: Facts about the women highlighted in "Hidden Figures.". Two years later, when the college chose to integrate its graduate schools, Johnson and two male students were offered spots. Langley began recruiting African-American women with college degrees to work as computers, according to NASA. Jackson began her career as a schoolteacher, and had several other jobs before joining NACA. You will receive a verification email shortly. She died in 2005. "When asked to name her greatest contribution to space exploration, Katherine Johnson talks about the calculations that helped synch Project Apollo's Lunar Lander with the moon-orbiting Command and Service Module," NASA wrote. Introducing ... PEOPLE's Products Worth the Hype, Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. figures this Cyber Monday, Lego's International Space Station set is 16% off at Amazon for Cyber Monday. The girl from West Virginia, born in 1918, admitted she always had an obsessive fascination with numbers. The highly acclaimed film Hidden Figures, released in December 2016, was based on the non-fiction book of the same title by Margot Lee Shetterly, which was published earlier that year. These lectures were given by engineers that later formed the Space Task Group, NACA's section on space travel. Octavia Spencer. Vaughan headed the division from 1949 until 1958. In 1953, when she was back in the workforce, Johnson joined the West Area Computing section at Langley. Johnson retired from NASA In 1986. Fortunately for all, the filmmakers had an incredible amount of … Those computers were women who made discoveries still fundamental to astronomy today. If you would like to opt out of browser push notifications, please refer to the following instructions specific to your device and browser: this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines. -- --Katie Noah Gibson for Shelf Awareness. Find out where Hidden Figures is streaming, if Hidden Figures is on Netflix, and get news and updates, on Decider. Receive news and offers from our other brands? For example, Williamina Fleming is best known for classifying stars based on their temperature, and Annie Jump Cannon developed a stellar classification system still used today (from hottest to coolest stars: O, B, A, F, G, K, M.). Vaughan became the first black NACA supervisor in 1949 and made sure that her employees received promotions or pay raises if merited. Janelle Monáe. According to NASA, the talented mathematician left her position as a teacher during World War II to work at Langley, in what she believed would be a temporary position. I failed, but I was there. After graduating with highest honors, she started work as a schoolteacher in 1937. After 30 years with NACA and NASA (at which point she was an engineer), Jackson decided to become an equal opportunity specialist to help women and minorities. The real Jackson, born in Virginia in 1921, was another extraordinary scientist who worked closely with Johnson and Vaughan. Please refresh the page and try again. Visit our corporate site. Hopper Stone; NASA/Donaldson Collection/Getty, Credit: Vaughan died on Nov. 10, 2008 at the age of 98. “’ Hidden Figures ’ is ideally suited for use in the classroom, but teachers want students to do more with a film than passively view it,” the press release reads. More info “Meticulous research + engaging writing + fantastic real-life characters = amazing." The credit for these women is long overdue. As the years passed and the center evolved, the West Computers became engineers and electronic computer programmers. The women of Hidden Figures. “We always worked as a team,” she said in a 2010 interview. Known as the “computers in skirts,” the three women worked behind the scenes at NASA in the segregated West Area Computers division of Langley Research Center. Like them, she joined Langley after working as a teacher. Beginning in 1935, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), a precursor of NASA, hired hundreds of women as computers. “I thought it was fiction. And this man has a building named after him. In November 1943, Dorothy Vaughan, a teacher at the Negro high school in Farmville, Virginia, joined an experiment quietly underway at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in Hampton, Virginia. They will no longer be obscure.”. The women were the first black managers at Langley and it was their brilliant work that propelled the first American, John Glenn, into orbit in 1962. This article was updated on Feb. 24, 2020 by Space.com reference editor Kimberly Hickok. "It's an embarrassment that these women were omitted from the annals of history," Octavia Spencer said. “I didn’t know [the story] until I got the script,” Henson said. This article was originally published on Dec. 15, 2016. Future US, Inc. 11 West 42nd Street, 15th Floor, ... 10 Colorful Biopics Of People You Didn't Know You Needed To Know. Mary Jackson (1921-2005) Jackson hailed from Hampton, Virginia. The film Hidden Figures is based on the life of three female African-American mathematicians working for NASA - Katherine Johnson, pictured, … He was created to represent certain racist and sexist attitudes that existed during the 1950s. Coyote Ugly Turns 20: Where Is the Cast Now? I’m excited because the world will finally know these names. She also tried to help other women advance in their career, according to the biography, by advising them on what educational opportunities to pursue. “We stand on the shoulders of three American heroes,” Henson said. BASED ON A TRUE STORY The film opens in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia in 1926. The Hidden Figures Effect Is Real: How It's Inspiring Young Women to Seek Careers in Science and Technology It's not just a film—it's a movement. Never heard of her. Find out what your cat is trying to tell you with a new cat app, Princess Diana died when Harry was just 12 years old, Engineer Creates App To Translate Your Cat, The Sweetest Photos of Princes Harry with Diana, Sean Connery's Cause of Death Revealed Weeks After He Dies at Age 90. While Johnson is the main character, Hidden Figures also follows the trajectories of Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson as they work on the … She was ready to enter high school by the age of 10, and her father Joshua moved the family in order to make sure his daughter met her full potential. Hidden Figures only scratched the surface of these three women’s great achievements. Still, the law required that she and her black colleagues needed to work separately from white female computers, and the first supervisors were white. Products in this story are independently selected and featured editorially. Get breaking space news and the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more! Her job during World War II was a temporary position, but thanks in part to a new executive order prohibiting discrimination in the defense industry, she was hired on permanently because the laboratory had a wealth of data to process. In 1958, she became NASA’s first black female engineer. Please deactivate your ad blocker in order to see our subscription offer, Mary Jackson was one of the "human computers" portrayed in the film "Hidden Figures.". Title Hidden Figures Year 2016 Director Theodore Melfi Genre Drama, Biography, Mystery “If she says they’re good, I’m good to go.”. Read Reviews . She continued to work at NASA until 1986 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2015. Her mind was so trusted, in fact, that NASA says Glenn called for Johnson to check the complex trajectory calculations made by the computer before launching the Friendship 7 in 1962. Katherine Johnson (Taraji P … In an interview with Deadline, the actresses behind the brilliant woman admitted they didn’t even know the true story – but once they learned of the heroes, they were determined to make them known to everyone. She graduated with high marks from high school and received a bachelor of science ... Katherine Johnson (1918-2020) Dorothy Vaughan (1910-2008) And this became my passion project. While many of her classmates were unable to complete their educations in order to help their families, Johnson sped through school thanks to her incredible smarts. Synopsis. During World War II, the computer pool was expanded. ... Katherine G. Johnson. By Marissa G. Mulle r Featured In. Born in 1910 in Kansas City, Missouri, Vaughan excelled in school and graduated from Wilberforce University in Ohio in 1926. “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.”. In the 1950s, she experimented with processing data from wind tunnel and flights. Despite Glenn's trajectory being planned by computers, Glenn reportedly wanted Johnson herself to run through the equations to make sure they were safe. Mary Jackson was a successful NASA engineer and advocate for women and minorities in the field. ... Dorothy Vaughan. Vaughan was an expert programmer in FORTRAN, a prominent computer language of the day, and also contributed to a satellite-launching rocket called Scout (Solid Controlled Orbital Utility Test). Jackson died on Feb. 11, 2005 at the age of 83. The job title described someone who performed mathematical equations and calculations by hand, according to a NASA history. She continued to use her incredible skills in an integrated computer division and became an expert programmer, contributing to the Scout Launch Vehicle Program before retiring in 1971. New York, I was annoyed. She began her career working with data from flight tests, but her life quickly changed after the Soviet Union launched the first satellite in 1957. Hopper Stone; Inset: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty, Credit: After 34 years, Jackson took a job in NASA’s Equal Opportunity office, making changes to benefit female workers until her retirement in 1985. I was like, ‘I have to do this movie.’ ”, “I think there will be some people who think that this is some sort of conjecture,” Spencer added. The agency was so impressed by the women’s skills, it continued to do so after the war. Although described as a behind-the-scenes sort of worker, she helped many people get promoted or become supervisors. Behind the scenes, they were supported by hundreds of unheralded NASA workers, including "human computers" who did the calculations for their orbital trajectories. “It’s never just one person.”. Jackson hailed from Hampton, Virginia. "She discovered that occasionally it was something as simple as a lack of a couple of courses, or perhaps the location of the individual, or perhaps the assignments given them, and of course, the ever present glass ceiling that most women seemed to encounter," Champine wrote. "Hidden Figures" focuses on three computers: Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan. biography written by Gloria R. Champine for NASA, contributed to a satellite-launching rocket called Scout, Best telescopes 2020: Top picks for beginners, viewing planets, astrophotography and all-arounders, The best Cyber Monday deals on telescopes, The best model rocket deals and gifts for Cyber Monday, Save up to 50% on Star Wars Funko Pop! It was here that Neil Armstrong and other astronauts learned to land on the moon in the 1960s, and the women featured in Hidden Figures – Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan, known as “human computers” – helped put John Glenn in orbit. In fact-checking the Hidden Figures movie, we learned that white collar statistician Paul Stafford, portrayed by Jim Parsons, is a fictional character. “Journeys in Film has prepared eight comprehensive, standards-aligned lesson plans for secondary students. It follows Johnson and other female African-American mathematicians ( Mary Jackson and … In the 1960s, Mercury astronauts Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, John Glenn and others absorbed the accolades of being the first men in space. Based on a true story, Hidden Figures follows the events of the U.S. and Russian race to put the first man in orbit. “Get the girl, check the numbers,” Glenn said, referring to Johnson. Dorothy Vaughan became the first black supervisor at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), a precursor of NASA, in 1949. © While their stories are compelling, the … NASA's Real 'Hidden Figures'. Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! For the Mercury missions, Johnson did trajectory analysis for Shepard's Freedom 7 mission in 1961, and (at John Glenn's request) did the same job for his orbital mission in 1962. A young Katherine Coleman (Lidya Jewett) is waiting, naming the geometric shapes in a stained glass window, while her parents talk to a school official.The official wants to sent Katherine to a school for gifted students -- she's an advanced student and a genius at math. Eventually, Johnson was able to put her incredible mind to work for NASA in Langley Research Center’s Guidance and Navigation Department. Hidden Figures will be published on September 6, but you can pre-order a copy today. She graduated with high marks from high school and received a bachelor of science degree from the Hampton Institute in Mathematics and Physical Science, according to a biography written by Gloria R. Champine for NASA. If you make a purchase using these links we may earn commission. She died in 2008. Hidden Figures is inspired by the real life stories of three African American women—Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson—who literally changed the face of NASA, the United States of America, and indeed history. The True Story Behind Hidden Figures – and the Real Women Who Helped Launch the First U.S. Astronaut into Orbit this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines. No. Text us for exclusive photos and videos, royal news, and way more. Eventually, she joined a training program that would allow her to earn a promotion from mathematician to engineer, which required taking classes at the University of Virginia in addition to her work. “I counted everything,” she told NASA in 2015. At age 97, in 2015, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States. Get push notifications with news, features and more. "Hidden Figures," a 2016 book by Margot Lee Shetterly and a movie based on the book, celebrates the contributions of some of those workers. ... Mary Jackson. Their meticulous calculations helped the United States catch up in the “space race” and send John Glenn, who recently passed away at the age of 95, into orbit around Earth. Meet the ‘Colored Girls,’ the hidden figures in American politics ... podcast talking to key figures behind the news and our culture. You'll get the latest updates on this topic in your browser notifications. Johnson graduated from West Virginia State College at 18 and began working as a teacher, later spending time as a stay-at-home mom. Henson, along with her costars Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe, have now brought the inspiring story to the public eye with their acclaimed performances as the groundbreaking trio. She attended a high school on the campus of West Virginia State College by age 13, and began attending the college at age 18. Mary Jackson, NASA’s first black female engineer, is played by a barely recognizable Janelle Monáe in her first major big-screen acting role. I actually studied electrical engineering. Katherine Johnson, real-life subject of 'Hidden Figures' receives standing ovation at Oscars ... "I was just excited to have challenging work to do and smart people to work with," she said. But it’s an embarrassment that these women were omitted from the annals of history. Vaughan joined the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in 1943 after beginning her career as a math teacher in Farmville, Virginia. In keeping the legacy of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson alive… 'Hidden Figures' Mathematician Katherine Johnson Dies Johnson was one of NASA's human "computers" and wrote trajectory equations for missions in the space agency's early days. Taraji P. Henson. If it wasn’t for Katherine Johnson, there would have been no Ron. When the cast of Hidden Figures took home the 2017 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture on Sunday, Taraji P. Henson thanked the three women who inspired the film. The movie Hidden Figure s introduces three of these women: Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan. “Without them we would not be able to reach the stars.”. For example, some of her math equations were used in a lecture series compendium called Notes on Space Technology.