NASA’s Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Facility has been renamed the Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Facility in honor of the trailblazing African-American mathematician, aerospace technologist and physicist.
Located in Fairmont, West Virginia, the IV&V facility ensures the safety and success of the mission software for NASA’s highest-profile missions.
In a statement, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine paid tribute to Johnson and praised her resilience.
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“I am thrilled we are honoring Katherine Johnson in this way as she is a true American icon who overcame incredible obstacles and inspired so many,” he said. “It’s a fitting tribute to name the facility that carries on her legacy of mission-critical computations in her honor.”
NASA IV&V Program Director Gregory Blaney also welcomed the redesignation.
“It’s an honor the NASA IV&V Program’s primary facility now carries Katherine Johnson’s name,” he said. “It’s a way for us to recognize Katherine’s career and contributions not just during Black History Month, but every day, every year.”
Born in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, her calculations of orbital mechanics were pivotal in formulating emergency return paths for astronauts, the formation of the Space Shuttle Program and completing missions to Mars.
Johnson’s work gained worldwide attention when her life was chronicled in the film Hidden Figures, with actress Taraji P. Henson portraying her likeness.
A child prodigy, she entered a specialized high school program on the campus of West Virginia State College at the age of 10. The county she was raised in did not provide an education for black students beyond the eighth grade.
She went on to graduate from high school at 14 and took every math course offered at West Virginia State, a historically black college in her home state. She graduated summa cum laude in 1937 with degrees in French and Mathematics at the age of 18.
Johnson accepted a teaching position at a public school in Marion, Virginia.
In 1939 after marrying her first husband, James Goble and becoming pregnant, Johnson quit the graduate math program at West Virginia University. At the time, Johnson was the only African-American woman to integrate into the university after the Supreme Court ruling Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada (1938). The ruling stated that black students were to be afforded the same advanced educational opportunities as their white counterparts.
Johnson decided to explore a career in research mathematics. It was a difficult field for African-Americans, let alone African-American women to traverse through, however, after hearing from a family member that the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was hiring mathematicians she stayed the course.
Johnson was offered a position in 1953. NACA would be superseded in 1958 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
From 1953 to 1958, Johnson computed complex mathematical formulas manually all the while experiencing racial and gender segregation.
At the time, Johnson recalled that no woman had her name placed on a report she completed, herself and the black women who were mathematicians worked under the supervision of white engineers, the computers they worked on were
Johnson recalled, “We needed to be assertive as women in those days – assertive and aggressive – and the degree to which we had to be that way depended on where you were. I had to be. In the early days of NASA, women were not allowed to put their names on the reports – no woman in my division had had her name on a report. I was working with Ted Skopinski and he wanted to leave and go to Houston … but Henry Pearson, our supervisor – he was not a fan of women – kept pushing him to finish the report we were working on. Finally, Ted told him, “Katherine should finish the report, she’s done most of the work anyway.” So Ted left Pearson with no choice; I finished the report and my name went on it, and that was the first time a woman in our division had her name on something.”
During her 28-year career, Johnson chartered the trajectory for Alan Shepard, the first American in space. Johnson also calculated the launch opening for the 1961 mission to Mars, verified the calculations for digital computers before they were used for the first time, her calculations were used in the 1969 Apollo 11 and Apollo 13 moon missions and was enlisted to ensure that Shepard’s Freedom 7 capsule would be recovered quickly after landing.
Throughout her career, Johnson co-authored 26 scientific papers, has been lauded as an African-American woman pioneer in STEM, has been ranked among African-American’s in science and technology and been bestowed with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former President Barack Obama.
On May 5, 2016, the Katherine G. Johnson Computational was unveiled at the Langley Research in Hampton, Virginia in
Johnson was
Johnson resides in Hampton, Virginia with her second husband, James A. Johnson. The couple
