Newswire
Posted on February 24, 2020 at 10:06 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
NASA announced this morning that Katherine Johnson, one of the mathematicians profiled in the book and movie Hidden Figures, has died.
Johnson, who was 101 years old, received a flood of highly public acclaim in the final years of her life for the work she did at NASA while also breaking gender and racial barriers.
As a hand “computer,” she did calculations for the first moon landing and the space shuttle program; those contributions were memorialized in Margot Lee Shetterly's 2016 bestseller Hidden Figures, upon which the 2017 film was based.
My life's honor to tell the story of Katherine Johnson's contributions to NASA, science, our country, and #HamptonRoads VA. Her brilliance helped us to see and celebrate other #hiddenfigures in history. You changed the narrative... Godspeed, Katherine Johnson.
— Margot Lee Shetterly (@margotshetterly) February 24, 2020
Read more about Johnson’s extraordinary life in her NPR obituary.
Categories: Today in Books