When NASA first started using digital computers, they had an exceptionally talented mathematician check the calculations to confirm their accuracy. Who was this person? Her name is Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson. She is the mathematician who calculated the trajectory for NASA’s first mission into space. Because of her perseverance and hard-working attitude, she has become a well-known physicist and mathematician. She has also become my hero.
Katherine Johnson has accomplished some amazing things. For example, she played a crucial role in launching the Friendship 7 in the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission in the year 1962. John Glenn, the pilot, said that if Katherine confirmed the mathematics’ accuracy before he went on the mission, then he would go. Also, a computing facility at NASA was dedicated to her, as she has contributed many things to modern space travel. A movie was recently made about Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, who helped launch the Friendship 7 called “Hidden Figures”. This movie was based on a book of the same name. Finally, in 2015, President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. At that time, she was ninety-seven years old. Katherine Johnson has achieved many feats in mathematics and physics because of her perseverance and hard-working attitude.…show more content… Johnson is extremely perseverant. There is no doubt that she has faced difficulties in life. She worked at NASA as an African-American woman during the time of our nation’s segregation. Furthermore, her first husband, Francis Goble, passed away from an inoperable brain tumor in 1956. This left her with three young daughters to support until she remarried to Lt. Colonel James A. Johnson in 1959. Lastly, in her time working with NASA, she was assertive and proved that she belonged in important positions, such as in editorial meetings, no matter how many times her boss refused. Katherine’s true perseverance and will have made her a remarkable
