NASA's 'Hidden Figures' women to be awarded Congressional Gold Medals
Four African American women who worked as 'human computers will be conferred with the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award in the country.
Four African American women who are referred to as ‘Hidden Figures’ at NASA will be awarded the Congressional Gold Medals, the highest civilian award in the US.
Engineers Christine Darden and Mary Jackson, mathematician Katherine Johnson and computer programmer Dorothy Vaughan helped NASA during the Space Race will be presented with the awards. Dorothy and Mary will be awarded posthumously.
A fifth gold medal will be awarded in recognition to all the women who worked as human computers, mathematicians and engineers at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia, from 1930s to 1970s. This medal will be given to the Smithsonian Institution.
These women played pivotal roles in sending the first man to the moon, in America’s domination in the Space Race, in World War II aircraft testing, supersonic flight research, and sending the Voyager probes to explore the solar system. They essentially made space travel possible.
Senator Kamala Harris who introduced the bipartisan bill “Hidden Figures Congressional Gold Medal Act” said in a press release, “The groundbreaking accomplishments of these four women, and all of the women who contributed to the success of NASA, helped us win the space race but remained in the dark far too long.” These pioneers remain a beacon for black women across the country, both young and old."
The path-breaking women
Christine Darden was a data analyst at Langley Research Center before she became an aerospace engineer. She authored over 50 articles on aeronautics design and her work has led to discoveries that have "revolutionised aerodynamics design."
Mary Jackson was NASA's first black female engineer. She worked as an engineer for 21 years before becoming the Federal Women's Program Manager where she was committed to improving "the prospects of NASA's female mathematicians, engineers, and scientists". She died in 2005.
Kathrine Johnson provided the space agency with space flight trajectory calculations for many missions, including the Apollo missions. The engineer was also the first woman to be recognized "as an author of a report from the Flight Research Division." She is 101 years old and lives in Virginia.
In 1949, Dorothy Vaughan became the first black supervisor at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), a precursor to Nasa. An expert computer programmer, she led the segregated West Area Computing Unit. She died in 2008.
These women served as an inspiration and paved the way for women of colour to make history in the fields of science, math, and technology.
The stories of these women were brought to light by Margot Lee Shetterly in her book Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race. The book was adapted into the film Hidden Figures in 2016.
(Edited by Rekha Balakrishnan)