Katherine Johnson

By: Alexander Sanchez (Grade 6)

Early Life

Katherine Coleman was born on August 26, 1918 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. Her parents were Joshua and Joylette, and her siblings were Horace, Charles, and Margret. Her father was good with numbers and passed it on to Katherine. She was so smart, she ended up graduating from high school at 13. She started at West Virginia State college where she had to make a big decision: Choose between French and Math. Her mentor was William Claytor, who was the 3rd black American to get a PHD, and encouraged her to do math. She was torn, so she decided to get a bachelor degree in both. She finished college in 1937 with honors. There were not many job options for black women, let alone black people, so she just became a teacher. She married James Goble in 1939, and had 3 girls. She got a job at NACA while they were hiring, but James Goble died. She then married James Johnson in 1959.

Impact

Katherine Johnson will always be remembered because of her inquisitive mind and her strength to not care about what other people think about you. She faced a lot of hardships due to the color of her skin because of segregation and underestimation, but she was never willing to accept defeat to other's opinions. She inspired other black people to never stop asking questions. Katherine even wrote a book "Reaching for the Moon" hoping to inspire more people. In her later years, she would regularly visit schools and encourage them to study math. President Obama gave her the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her hard work and impact she made on America. She will have a never ending legacy that will be passed down to other parts of the world.

What is she so famous for?

Katherine Johnson created the coordinates to get Apollo 11 to the moon and home. During the disaster of Apollo 13, when the shuttle lost power, she had to think very fast on her feet. She gave the astronauts coordinates to land home using the moon's gravitational pull. Katherine even coordinated the path for Freedom 7. She also was famous because she was one of the only black human computer engineers respected. Katherine would join in their "white engineers only" meetings and offer great ideas. She impressed everyone in her time and really stood out.

Where is Katherine Johnson?

Katherine Johnson lived in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia in her early life. She later moved to Marion, Virginia to get a job at NACA. That was where she lived the rest of her life.

Fabulous Facts!

-There was a chapter book called Hidden Figures about her and 2 other intelligent black women computers named Mary Jackson and Dorthy Vaughn

-During her time at NACA and NASA, she co authored/authored 26 research reports

-Katherine initially was tasked to analyze plane crashes and collect data from flight recorders

-Katherine was a computer at NACA because back then, computers were humans doing calculations.