This led toВ aВ 25-year career focused on sonic boom minimization.В However, that is not allВ she contributed. Impressed by her skills, her supervisor transferred her to the engineering section, where she was one of few female aerospace engineers at NASA Langley during that time.вЂќДardenвЂ™s first assignment was to write a computer programВ that modeledВ a sonic boom. (She went on to earn a PhD in engineering from George Washington University in 1983.)ДЄccording to NASA, вЂњAfter wading through daily calculations for eight years, Darden approached her supervisor to ask why men, with the same educational background as her (aВ master of scienceВ in applied mathematics), were being hired as engineers. She began her career at NASA in 1967В whenВ she was hired as a вЂњhuman computerвЂќ at the Langley Research Center.В Prior to coming to NASA, Darden had earned aВ bachelor of scienceВ degree in mathematics from Hampton University in 1962 and aВ masterвЂ™s of scienceВ from Virginia State College in 1967.

She was one of the leading NASA researchers in the sonic boom and its relation to supersonic and hypersonic aircraft. Learn about her journey in this My Path video.Д¬hristine Darden was an aeronautical engineer at the NASA Langley Research Center. Christine DardenД¬hristine Darden is a mathematician featured in the book Hidden Figures. Join us to discover the stories of two other women whose work and achievement, like JohnsonвЂ™s,В were hidden and untold for years-but who also played a key role in the success of the space programВ in the UnitedВ States. Katherine went where her skills were needed-even if she wasnвЂ™t invited,вЂќ Stofan concluded. вЂњKatherine, and countless unsung heroes just like her, carried the nationвЂ™s space program forward, despite pervasive opposition at all levels of society.

Ellen Stofan, вЂњEven when NASA turned to electronic computers to tabulate trajectories, John Glenn nowВ famously asked that Katherine personally recheck the calculations on his flight before climbing aboard Friendship 7.вЂќ

JohnsonВ wasВ born in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia,В in 1918.В SheВ was fascinated with numbers as a youngВ personВ and highly intelligent-a freshman in high school by the time she was 10 years old,В high schoolВ graduateВ at 14, and collegeВ graduateВ at 18.В She graduated with honors from West Virginia State University in 1937 with degrees in mathematics and French.В Her achievement with numbers continued,В and she becameВ one of the first African American graduate students at the University of West Virginia.ДЄfter working as a teacher, she went to work forВ theВ NACAВ (the forerunner of NASA),В calculating results fromВ theВ wind tunnel at Langley Research Center.В She would go on to work for NASA.В вЂњKatherine excelled as aВ вЂhuman computer,вЂ™В and the flights of the first Americans in space relied on her calculations,вЂќВ explained Dr. A longtime NASA mathematician and 'Hidden Figure,' Johnson calculated trajectories for many major spaceflights.

Katherine Johnson sits at her desk with a globe, or 'Celestial Training Device.

Katherine johnson nasa white or black