PhDistracted

npr:

On Feb. 20, 1962, John Glenn blasted off into space and became the first American to orbit the Earth. Behind the scenes, thousands of engineers and mathematicians worked tirelessly to make NASA’s Friendship 7 mission a success. Historical photos show them as white men in crisp white shirts and ties — but we now know there’s more to that picture.

In her book Hidden Figures, author Margot Lee Shetterly gives name and voice to the African-American women who worked as human “computers” in the space program. Now, just a few months after the book was published, a new movie is also telling that story. (The film rights were optioned just a couple weeks after Shetterly got her book deal.) As mathematicians and engineers, these women made incalculable contributions to the space program — and the fact that they were African-Americans working in the segregated South makes their stories even more remarkable.’

‘Hidden Figures’ No More: Meet The Black Women Who Helped Send America To Space

Photo: Bob Nye/Courtesy NASA Langley
Caption: According to NASA, Mary Jackson “may have been the only black female aeronautical engineer in the field” in the 1950s. Singer and actress Janelle Monae plays her in the film Hidden Figures.

(via penn-state-university)