Watch the video to know more about Nasa mathematician Katherine Johnson
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Video Credit: Rumble
African-American Nasa mathematician Katherine Johnson has passed away at the age of 101.
Nasa announced her death on Twitter: ‘We’re saddened by the passing of celebrated #HiddenFigures mathematician Katherine Johnson.’
‘Today, we celebrate her 101 years of life and honor her legacy of excellence that broke down racial and social barriers.’
Ms. Johnson was born in a small town in West Virginia in 1918 and graduated from high school at 14 and from university at 18.
She previously told she was fascinated by numbers and would count everything – the steps to the road, the steps up to the church, and the number of dishes and silverware she washed.
She worked as a teacher and then in 1953, she started working for Nasa’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).
Ms. Johnson calculated rocket trajectories and Earth orbits for Nasa’s early space missions, including the trajectory for the 1969 Apollo 11 flight to the Moon.
In 2015, Ms. Johnson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and was portrayed in the 2016 Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures.
Actress Taraji P. Henson played Ms. Johnson in Hidden Figures.
During the space race between the US and the former Soviet Union, Ms. Johnson experienced inequality.
She used different toilets and dining areas and never dined with white workers but she never complained.
She said previously: “My dad taught us, ‘You are as good as anybody in this town, but you’re no better.
I don’t have a feeling of inferiority. Never had. I’m as good as anybody, but no better.”
After her death, Margot Lee Shetterly, who wrote Hidden Figures, Former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Taraji P. Henson, who played Ms. Johnson in Hidden Figures, and many others paid a tribute to her.
Former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton wrote on Twitter: “Her calculations helped put Americans in space, in orbit, and, finally, on the Moon.”
Actress Taraji P. Henson wrote: “Because of your hard work little girls EVERYWHERE can dream as big as the MOON!!! Your legacy will live on…”
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