Core Academic Unit

A GREAT GENIUS WOMEN MATHEMATICIAN: KATHERINE JOHNSON WHO CALCULATED MATH FOR FLY
The astronauts would not fly until she checked the math.
In the early 1960s, as America raced to catch the Soviet Union in space exploration, NASA acquired its first IBM computers—powerful machines designed to calculate trajectories that would send humans beyond Earth's atmosphere. The computers were new, impressive, and completely unproven.
When lives were at stake, the astronauts wanted one thing: Katherine Johnson's numbers.
In February 1962, astronaut John Glenn was preparing to become the first American to orbit Earth aboard Friendship 7. NASA's new IBM 7090 computer had calculated his trajectory—the precise path from liftoff through orbit and back to splashdown. Everything depended on those calculations being perfect.
But Glenn didn't trust the computer.
The "girl" he was referring to was Katherine Johnson. She was 44 years old, a mathematician with a mind that astronauts trusted more than IBM's room-sized machine.
Johnson sat at her desk and began working. She manually verified every calculation the computer had made, building phone-book-thick stacks of data sheets, checking each number in the labyrinth of trajectory equations. It took her a day and a half of eye-numbing, disorienting work—watching tiny digits pile up, blocking out everything except the math.
When she finished, she gave her approval.
In 1969, her work helped land Apollo 11 on the moon. Her calculations ensured Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins could navigate to the lunar surface and return home safely. She considered the Apollo missions her greatest contribution—the math that helped the lunar lander rendezvous with the orbiting command module.
She also contributed to the Apollo 13 mission, helping develop emergency return procedures after an onboard explosion threatened the crew. Her calculations helped bring them home alive.
Johnson retired in 1986, earning three Special Achievement Awards during her career. She had helped send humans to space, to the moon, and safely back to Earth. She had made space exploration possible.
In 2017, NASA dedicated the Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility in her honor. In 2018, Mattel released a Katherine Johnson Barbie doll. In 2024, she was posthumously inducted into the Women in Aviation International Pioneer Hall of Fame.
The recognition came. But it came decades too late.
Katherine Johnson never sought fame. When asked about her achievements, she remained modest, echoing her father's philosophy: "You are no better than anyone else, and no one is better than you." She would say she "didn't do anything alone," giving credit to colleagues like Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, the other women who helped pave the way.
She sent men to the moon.
History almost forgot to say thank you.