![]() ![]() Most notably, in 1969 she calculated trajectories that led the Apollo 11 to the moon, one of America’s greatest scientific feats. A year later, her calculating skills helped John Glenn to become the first American to orbit the Earth. Shepard became the first American in space. Her exceptional work as a mathematician guided the 1961 mission on which Alan B. ( See images of America's first space program.) “Katherine Johnson, the human computer, the third African-American woman to get a Ph.D., who helped NASA put an astronaut into orbit and then help put a man on the moon, inspires me with her pioneering legacy to break barriers and to challenge norms as a teacher and as a woman of colour,” Gupta says.Īs seen in the 2016 Academy Award-nominated film Hidden Figures, Johnson was among a group of Black women described as “human computers” who worked at NASA, then called the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, calculating space flight trajectories by hand. That legacy of inspiration lives on in Kavita Gupta, a chemistry teacher at Monta Vista High School, in Cupertino, California. Katherine's legacy of exploration, innovation and inspiration lives on, and we are in awe of her remarkable achievements." “Fifty years ago, the Apollo 11 astronauts were awarded with the medal, and we’re honoured to recognise the mathematician whose precise calculations made those flights possible. "We are honoured to present Katherine Johnson the Hubbard Medal, the National Geographic Society's highest recognition, for her extraordinary contributions in the fields of science and exploration,” National Geographic Society CEO Jill Tiefenthaler said this week. ![]()
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