It is an understatement to say that women are easily forgotten in the IT world. Big household names include the likes of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Linus Torvalds; but is that really all there is to Information Technology? Absolutely not.
Katherine Johnson was born on August 26, 1918 in West Virginia. Being African American, most people would assume she lived a life hiding in the shadows. She did everything except that. Katherine with the gift of academic knowledge, proving to be one of the most exceptional students of her generation. She easily finished grade school at the age of 10; an age where most of us would still be in 4th grade. This meant that Katherine was able to graduate from high school at 14 years old then complete a college degree at 18 years old.
Growing up, Katherine realized that she possessed a deep passion for mathematics and computer science. This enabled her to find employment at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (also known as NACA). NACA would eventually become the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the world’s leading astronomic agency.
At NACA, Katherine was tasked to become a “computer”. This meant manually calculating and interpreting results of various wind tunnel tests, since there were no computer machines at the time. Due to Katherine’s gift in mathematics, the function of the “computers” proved to be a very efficient system for NACA. Katherine was asked to continue working with the organization.
To find a middle-aged African American woman working in one of the leading space organizations was very eye-opening in the 1930s. Katherine moved to serve in the Research and Navigation department. She began to make big waves here as she solved and formulated the space route of the first American to step foot into space. Her marvelous work here already showed the value of information technology at that era.
Katherine Johnson was recently awarded the National Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama last 2015. She continues to serve as an inspiration to IT women everywhere who are planning to ake the industry by storm.
Sources:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (2015). Katherine Johnson: The girl who loved to count. Retrieved from https://www.nasa.gov/feature/katherine-johnson-the-girl-who-loved-to-count
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (n.d.). About NASA. Retrieved from https://www.nasa.gov/about/index.html
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