She worked at the Langley Research Center (West Virginia) from 1953 to 1986. NASA / AFP
Her calculations allowed the United States to conquer the Moon. American mathematician Katherine Johnson died at the age of 101, NASA announced on Monday, February 24.
The career of this great figure among Black Americans inspired the film Hidden Figures, released in 2016, adapted from Margot Lee Shetterly's book, which recounted the often-ignored contribution of Black women to the American conquest of space.
The scientist remained relatively unknown until President Barack Obama awarded him, in 2015, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the United States' highest civilian honors
Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, Dorothy Vaughan, Kathryn Peddrew, Sue Wilder, Eunice Smith, Barbara Holley.
American mathematicians who contributed to the success of the first American space flight in 1962.
