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7 Lessons from "Hidden Figures" NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson

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7 lessons from "Hidden Figures" NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson Text by Della Dumbaugh, Professor of Mathematics, University of Richmond Licensed under ASSIGNMENT DIRECTIONS As you read, ask yourself: what lesson from Johnson's life most speaks to you? QUESTION 1 (POLL) Have you seen Hidden Figures, the movie about female African American mathematicians in the NASA space program? Watch the trailer for the movie to jog your memory. https://www.youtube.com/embed/5wfrDhgUMGI?feature=oembed&rel=0 Yes. I saw it! Yes, but I don't remember it that well. I have heard of this movie, but I did not see it. I don't know this movie. 7 lessons from "Hidden Figures" NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson’s life and career The actresses in Hidden Figures introduce Katherine Johnson at the Oscars. Johnson, a mathematician on early space missions who was portrayed in this film, died Monday, Feb. 24, 2020. Source: Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File Katherine Johnson was an African American mathematician who made critical1 contributions to the space program. She died February 24, 2020, at the age of 101. Johnson became a household name2 thanks to the popular book3 Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race. Later, the book was turned into a movie. Her story gives hope and encouragement to girls, women, and minority groups often underrepresented in math and science fields. I work as a professor of mathematics at the University of Richmond in Virginia. I have studied women in that field and use the book Hidden Figures in my classroom. Looking at Johnson’s life can teach all of us lessons even today. 1. Mentors make a difference Early in her life, Johnson’s parents encouraged her intellectual abilities. There was no high school for African American children in their hometown of White Sulphur Springs,4 West Virginia. So the family moved to Institute, West Virginia,5 during the school year so Johnson could continue her education. At the time, most African American girls did not study past junior high school. Due to her parents’ dedication, Johnson and her siblings attended high school. Johnson’s advanced skills enabled her to graduate early, at the age of 14. She then enrolled at West Virginia State College, where she took classes with Angie Turner King.6 King taught high school while she worked to become one of the first African American women to earn master's degrees in math and chemistry. She would go on to earn a Ph.D. in math education in 1955. King taught Johnson geometry and encouraged her pursuits in math. Thirteen years older than Johnson, she modeled a life of possibility. Johnson graduated from West Virginia State College at the age of 18. While there, she had the good fortune to learn from W. W. Schieffelin Claytor.7 Claytor was the third African American to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics in America. He encouraged Katherine to become a research mathematician.8 Claytor told Johnson that she would make a great research mathematician and said he would help prepare her for that career. At the time, there were very few jobs for women in this field, especially African American women. Johnson and Claytor moved forward anyway, believing she would find success. In the 1930s, only a little over 100 American women considered themselves professional mathematicians. Johnson’s mentors believed in her abilities so much, they worked to prepare her to do what few women were doing at the time. QUESTION 2 DOK 2 STANDARD RI.3 How did mentors help Katherine Johnson? They allowed her to move ahead to higher grades at a young age. They offered her job opportunities in research mathematics after graduation. They trained her in areas of study that were usually closed to African American women. They gave her free housing so she could attend school far away from where she lived. 2. High school math adds up As your math teacher may have explained, math helps us make sense of the real world. Mathematics concepts build on one another. You have to understand one idea before you can move on to the next one. Johnson completed all the standard mathematics courses by her junior year at West Virginia State College. So Claytor created advanced classes just for her, including a course on analytic geometry. The mathematics Johnson learned in analytic geometry helped her in her work at NASA many years later. She used those skills to check the computer calculations for John Glenn’s orbit around the earth.9 She used them again to help determine the trajectory for the 1969 Apollo 11 flight to the moon10 and others. 3. Grit matters In 2013, Angela Duckworth gave a TED Talk11 that has been viewed over 19 million times. In it, she talks about grit. Duckworth defines grit as a combination of passion and perseverance for a focused goal. Her research also suggests successful people have grit. Katherine Johnson modeled this characteristic long before Duckworth called attention to it. She faced many challenges and obstacles as an African American woman trying to succeed in a world not welcoming or completely open to her. Her passion and perseverance, or grit, helped her to keep going when so many things stood in her way. In 1940, Johnson agreed to serve as one of three students to desegregate West Virginia University’s graduate program. Before this time, only white students were allowed to attend. She also had to be “assertive and aggressive” about receiving credit for her contributions to research at NASA. For women, getting your name on a NASA research report was unheard of at the organization. Even if a woman worked closely with an engineer on the research, she was not given the credit or accolades she deserved. According to the book Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly, many male engineers didn’t understand that women might have the same desire to be credited like men did. Johnson had been working on a project with a male engineer, Ted Skopinski, when he suggested she finish without him. He was busy with other things. “Katherine should finish the report,” Skopinski suggested to his boss, Henry Pearson. “She’s done most of the work anyway.” Johnson finished the research and submitted the report. It went through ten months of editorial meetings, analysis, recommendations, and revisions before its publication in 1960. Katherine Johnson at the NASA Langley Research Center in 1983. Source: NASA.gov It was the first time a woman’s name appeared on a NASA report. It was also the first time an African American’s name appeared on a NASA research report. Currently, the NASA archives contain more than 25 scientific reports on space flight history authored or coauthored by Johnson. This is the largest number by any African American or woman. QUESTION 3 DOK 3 STANDARD RI.1 Paragraph 22 says, “It was the first time a woman’s name appeared on a NASA report. It was also the first time an African American’s name appeared on a NASA research report.” What inference can you make from this information? No African American had ever done a report at NASA before Johnson. Katherine Johnson was the first woman allowed to participate in field research. This was the first time a woman or African American was given credit for their work. Before this time, women were not allowed to work at NASA. 4. Advocate for yourself NASA was formed in 1958. At the time, women were still not allowed to attend the Test Flight briefings.12 At first, Johnson would ask questions about the briefing and “listen and listen.” Eventually, she asked if she could attend. Apparently, the men grew tired of her questions and finally allowed her to attend the briefings. 5. Teams are powerful In 1940, 2% of all African American women had earned a college degree. Katherine Johnson was one of them. At the time, most of these women had limited career options. Johnson was among the nearly 60% of college-educated Black women who had become teachers. Eventually, an opportunity opened up and Johnson joined the West Computing Group at Langley Research Center,13 where women “found jobs and each other.” They checked each other’s work and made sure nothing left the office with an error. They worked together to advance each other individually and collectively as they performed calculations for space missions and aviation research. Katherine Johnson at NASA Langley Research Center in 1980.Source: NASA.gov QUESTION 4 DOK 2 STANDARD RI.3 Why did Johnson become a teacher after college? She felt education was her true calling. Her professors had trained her to be a talented math teacher. There were not many other career options for her to choose from. Her parents were dedicated to education and wanted her to become a teacher. 6. It's powerful when women advocate for each other The female mathematicians working at Langley were known as “computers.”14 Johnson was a human computer in the West Computing Group. But after two weeks, she moved to the Maneuver Load Branch of the Flight Research Division under the direction of Henry Pearson. After six months, the time came to make her position permanent. Dorothy Vaughan,15 who had been Johnson’s boss before she transferred to the department, told Pearson to “either give her a raise or send her back to me.” Vaughan spoke up for Johnson, knowing her value and worth as a person and employee at NASA. As a result, Pearson offered Johnson a permanent position and a raise.
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