(MENAFN – The Conversation) Katherine Johnson, who has died at the age of 101, was an amazing woman . But up until a few years ago, hardly anyone had heard of her or her achievements. She was a mathematician and she worked for NASA. But on paper neither of those facts would make her stand out from the crowd. Add a few more facts – she was a woman, she was black and working in the US in the 1950s to early 1960s – and the scale of her success becomes more apparent.
Johnson’s story and significant contributions to the US space programme, along with those of Dorothy Vaughan (a computer scientist) and Mary Jackson (an engineer), were brought to widespread public attention by the 2016 book Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly and film of the same name .
I have rarely watched a film that has moved me as much as Hidden Figures did when I first saw it. And I have seen it at least twice since when I have led discussions about the significance of the film, drawing on my own experience of working in the space industry. In telling Johnson and her colleagues’ stories, the film shed light not only on advances in technology but also the status of black people in society and the role of women in the workplace and in science.
Katherine Coleman was born in 1918 in West Virginia and showed very early on that she was no ordinary child. Her ability in mathematics was such that she continued her schooling beyond high school (very unusual for African-American children at that time) and had graduated from college by the time she was 18. Katherine became a wife, a mother and a teacher, and her story might have ended there, if it hadn’t been for her drive to continue with her mathematics.
Human computer
In the 1950s, the US government was continuing to develop its flight capabilities, for which it required computers. Not the super-fast electronic technology of today, or even lumbering mechanical valve-driven machinery, but people. Johnson became one of a group of human computers who calculated (using slide rule and log tables) the flight dynamics of aircraft to help improve their safety and operation.
In 1958, she joined the newly formed NASA, where she calculated the flight trajectory for the missions of first American in space Alan Shepard and first American to orbit the Earth, John Glenn. Glenn apparently personally requested that Johnson verify the flight trajectory that had been worked out by one of the new electronic computers. She would later work on the Apollo moon missions, helping synch the lunar module with the orbiting command and service module, and then the space shuttle programme.
Johnson calculated the trajectory for the first US manned orbital space flight. NASA
But Johnson was also a ‘ coloured computer ‘ at a time when laws still enforced racial segregation and there was still much opposition to integration and equal rights for non-white US citizens. As such, she had to use the separate restrooms and eating facilities set aside for non-white staff.
She was also a woman working in a man’s world, a world where most of the staff wore suit, shirt and tie and left for home each evening to find dinner cooked and waiting for them. Katherine had to juggle home and work, like so many women today. But her workplace was 1950s and 60s NASA, where women’s place was lowly. They didn’t speak at meetings or get their names acknowledged as authors of reports. As depicted in Hidden Figures, Johnson demanded to be recognised for her work. And she was. Eventually.
In her final years, she received much acclaim, including the award of the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama, as well, of course, as the publicity of Hidden Figures. But for a long time women didn’t have such visible role models working in science or space.
Katherine Johnson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. NASA/Bill Ingalis
I should hesitate to mention my career in an article lauding the achievements of Johnson. I have not had the same barriers to progress that she had and I have been fortunate that the people I have worked with have never patronised or ignored me in the way that Johnson was treated.
And the space industry has come a long way in the half century that it has existed. We have rules about equality and discrimination and dozens of schemes set up to encourage diversity in the workplace.
Making your voice heard
But yesterday I received an invitation to a meeting of UK senior space scientists and engineers. There were 20 names on the list, only three of which were women. It will be a gathering of grey suits. I shall wear pink or bright yellow. Because it is still necessary to stand out to make your voice heard. And I am a confident and successful scientist.
It is stories like Johnson’s that need to be told. Where are our role models today? Where are the women who will inspire our students to become scientists and engineers? As an example, in 2019 the BBC published a list of 100 trailblazing women , of which only four were scientists and just one an engineer.
Johnson has left an amazing legacy: as a mathematician, she helped NASA to put humans into space. But as an African-American woman, her legacy is perhaps even greater. She has given us a role model, showing that if we have the determination, our skills and talents can take us as high as we wish to fly.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
