Mathematical history of Katherine Johnson

Mathematical history of Katherine Johnson

Katherine Johnson, well known for her ideas of calculating trajectories, was born on August 26-1998 in America.  Her contributions to NASA on orbital mechanics were beneficial to the progress of the United States’ first aerospace. At the age of 13 years, she attended West Virginia high school. Later on, Katherine was admitted to the Virginia institute where she made perfect scores in math program and won herself a guider professor Schieffelin Claytor. Schieffelin was the third African American to be credited a PhD in math. Katherine was certified with a first-class honour the year 1973 and found a  teaching job at a black public school in the city of Virginia

In 1962, when NASA was in preparation of Orbital goal for John Glenn, Katherine was requested to contribute to the activities she could be famous for.  Due to the complications of the Orbital arrival, it needed a worldwide structuring for communication connectivity, connecting with the trucking systems in  IBM CPU in Bermuda, Cape Canaveral in Florida and Washington. The computer system was programmed with orbital

comparison, which would lead the curve of the condensed in Glenn’s Friendship, seven missions to splashdown from liftoff. However, the astronauts were afraid of risking their lives in the electronic calculating machines, which are prostate to blackouts and hiccups Johnson & Harrison (2017).

In the process of a preflight checklist, Glenn requested the engineers to access Katharine to run the numbers through the same programmed question in the computer system, although by hand through her own computer mechanical calculating machine. She remembers the autstraut stating that if she confirms the calculations are right, they would take a risk and go. The flight was a successful mission that twisted a turning point in the fight between the Soviet Union in space and the United States of America.

 

 

Conclusion

In conclusion, about calculating trajectories, I hold that mentorship makes a difference. The mentorship Katherine went through with Professor W. W. Schieffelin Claytor, inspired her decision to become a research mathematician. Besides, it is good to note that high school mathematics counts. Katherine borrowed some highschool skills to verify the computer calculations for Glenn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

REFERENCES

Johnson, K. G., & Harrison, A. (2017). Hidden Figures and the Impact of Mathematics.                 Mathematics TODAY, 44.