Katherine Johnson, NASA computer, passes away at 101

[Just Jack]

For you math nerds...

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/katherine-johnson-nasa-mathematician-depicted-hidden-figures-dead-101-n1141566

 

 

Edited February 24, 2020 by Just Jack

[KD in CA]

Bravo.  We should all live as full a life. 

[WhoTom]

If you haven't seen Hidden Figures, rent it.

 

[Marv's Neighbor]

RIP MS Johnson!  Great lady, story and movie.

[SoTier]

As a retired computer programmer, I found the book the movie Hidden Figures was based on even better because it gives you more insight to the monumentality of Johnson and her cohorts' achievements.  These ladies were literally human "computers" armed only with pencils, paper/chalkboards, and pretty primitive calculating aids like adding machines and slide rules.  The computer (it was one room-sized physical behemoth called a "mainframe" computer) that guided and powered the Apollo missions to the moon wasn't even as powerful -- and certainly not as reliable -- as desktop computers from 20 or 25 years ago.   The ladies in the NASA computing units literally had to manually do the same calculations as the computer to make sure that the machine got it right.

 

[The Avenger]

Truly an amazing woman and proof that some people are really good with numbers just as others are musical geniuses. 

 

That John Glenn personally asked that Johnson double check the computer's calculations prior to his space flight speaks volumes about her capabilities and how trusted she was.

 

You've lived a remarkable life when you reach the century mark...or earn the Presidential Medal of Freedom...or be an integral part of sending man into space...or breaking color and gender barriers with your talent and abilities...or have your life made into a hit movie...Katherine Johnson did all of those things - bravo!