For a whole host of reasons.

That was the best movie I have seen in years, by the way.

"Hidden Figures"

Loved this movie and I knew very little about these women. What a loss to our country that so many women's achievements and abilities were dismissed.

As well as several of her colleagues.

and were so thrilled that she (finally) got a bit of recognition for her contributions to the space program.

Buzz Aldrin performed orbital calculations IN HIS HEAD on his flights. He had an ScD in astronautics from MIT, for crying out loud.

Katherine Johnson made significant contributions to the space program. John Glenn certainly relied on her calculations. But I don't believe Buzz Aldrin would appreciate anyone saying that.

I am not aware of Aldrin's having made comment on her work. I have seen the Glenn citation several places. This doesn't mean Aldrin had nothing to say.

I do agree about the need to change the headline, or at least supplying another reference to clarify it.

In this day and age, when we increasingly rely on technology, it’s hard to believe that John Glenn himself tasked Katherine to double-check the results of the computer calculations before his historic orbital flight, the first by an American. The numbers of the human computer and the machine matched.

With a slide rule and a pencil, Katherine advanced the cause of human rights and the frontier of human achievement at the same time. Having graduated from high school at 14 and college at 18 at a time when African-Americans often did not go beyond the eighth grade, she used her amazing facility with geometry to calculate Alan Shepard’s flight path and took the Apollo 11 crew to the moon to orbit it, land on it, and return safely to Earth.

Katherine Johnson, as amazing as she was, didn't provide math help to Apollo 11. I think that one of the reasons that Buzz was chosen for that mission is that he could handle all of those kinds of things on the fly.

I fear that what you cite is another instance of poor science reporting.

Katherine Johnson to Apollo 11:

Here are a few quotes referencing her work with the Apollo program. They didn't just rely on a guy who could do it on the fly.

...calculations that helped synch Project Apollo’s Lunar Lander with the moon-orbiting Command and Service Module.
https://www.nasa.gov/content/katherine-johnson-biography


Her calculations proved as critical to the success of the Apollo Moon landing program and the start of the Space Shuttle program
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/katherine-johnson-the-girl-who-loved-to-count


She performed calculations for the historic 1969 Apollo 11 trip to the moon, and the following year, when Apollo 13 experienced a malfunction in space, her contributions to contingency procedures helped ensure its safe return.
https://www.biography.com/people/katherine-g-johnson-101016

The part of your post that read

"Katherine Johnson, as amazing as she was, didn't provide math help to Apollo 11.

made it sound like you were disputing her help with Apollo 11.

that Buzz Aldrin would object to his name being linked to Katherine Johnson's.

But I think that the whole "He would trust no one else" to do calculations for him is disingenuous at best and, at worst, a lie.

"Katherine Johnson, as amazing as she was, didn't provide math help to Apollo 11?"

If you can prove that, then I stand corrected.

on you to prove that he did not. Katherine Johnson obviously worked closely with Buzz on the Apollo 11 project, and he obviously trusted her and all of the members of the team as evidenced by the fact that mission was ultimately successful.

Than it would be for me to prove that he did not. All you have to do is produce a single quote.

let it go, so I will leave you with your assumptions. You stated that Katherine Johnson contributed nothing to the Apollo 11 mission, and you either purposely lied, or are sadly misinformed.

I have no way of knowing whether or not Buzz Aldrin stated verbatim that "he trusted no one else," but it seems reasonable that he praised her given that Buzz is an honorable person, and a man of science. Not all hyperbole is misplaced or outrageous, and sometimes it conveys an unsaid, but honest sentiment.

by the brief Vanity Fair article cited in the OP. One may infer such to be true but it is not in the document that way. I have no doubts about how Aldrin may have acted but the anecdote about Glenn is the one reported, there and elsewhere.

I am not debating in any way at all the significant contributions which Katherine, and indeed all of the "calculators", made to the space program and to our culture.

tangible evidence that Buzz Aldrin made a statement to that effect, just as there is no definitive proof that he did not. The writer of the OP may have taken some license with the "facts" but in my estimation that embellishment takes absolutely nothing away from either Ms. Johnson or Mr. Aldrin, as they obviously worked very well together and most likely had a sincere mutual respect for each other.

I can see no objective reason to become so indignant over a small exaggeration when the object of this thread is to honor a remarkable American heroine. Despite attempts to steer it in another direction, this thread is NOT about Buzz Aldrin, but to honor Katherine Johnson.

I really don't give a rat's ass whether Buzz said the words or not, but I don't find it out of the realm of possibility that he may have.

...would have corrected that when I posted last night, but I went right to work afterward... for crying out loud.

Respect!

Happy Birthday Katherine Johnson!

So glad to have learned her story from the movie - the other women as well. John Glenn would not takeoff until she ran the numbers.

This particular woman stuns me into respectful silence.

Happy Birthday phenomenal lady.

Happy birthday, Ms Johnson.

And I feel awful that I had never heard of her before the "Hidden Figures" movie.

That said by her co-worker in response to their boss claiming she was super fair with and never had anything against "you people".

As a white guy, that was the line which made me realize that I too was a victim of white privilege through the years.

Ooooops.

... oh wait.

So many women have contributed to the advancement of science. Imagine if we had not made it so hard for them to do so and receive the credit they deserve.

Dressed in Parisian fashion, including the red nail polish, I wish I had her resume.

Isn't it amazing how gender or race or any of the other republican seeming disqualifiers matter when you get right down to the nitty gritty of people accomplishing great things?

Still irked that I never heard of these women until that movie came out.

I was born with the Space Age, and those of us born in those years should have known about this.

Loved the movie. Watched it two or three times now. I get angry when I find out about these things long after they happen, especially when I was alive. She so deserves the recognition. In awe, actually.

You said it better than I could.

Such an impressive woman!

Katherine Johnson exemplifies the 'can-do' attitude of the people in this great nation - the attitude that got us to the moon.

Another great American.

Happy Birthday To You, Ms. Johnson, American Hero.

You are my hero.

There are so many things to consider.

What an amazingly beautiful and intelligent woman, thank you, Katherine Johnson!




And congrats to you, Americans, for having citizens like this!

that allow for more accurate calculations of the moon's location to this day.

...and treated like shit.

A computer was one who computed, male or female. I've met women who were computers in WWII: it was tedious, painstaking, and repeatative work, as anyone who had to do even moderate calculations before electronic calculators became (in my chemistry classes we had to do all of our work by hand, since a calculator was roughly the cost of a term's tuition and it wasn't considered to the less well-off students). It was mostly women's work by the 1940s because while it was tedious it required a high degree of accuracy - and women worked cheap.

In keeping with state racial segregation laws, and federal workplace segregation introduced under President Woodrow Wilson in the early 20th century, Johnson and the other African-American women in the computing pool were required to work, eat, and use restrooms that were separate from those of their white peers. Their office was labeled as "Colored Computers".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Johnson
It boggles my mind how crazy brilliant she had to be to overcome 1) being a woman, and 2) also black. The other black women too.

Glad she lived to have her work recognized...finally.

has anyone else noticed how far down we've plunged since 1969?

With regards to women and African Americans I'd say we've come a very long way. Do we have a long way to go? Most definitely, but I started working in an office in 1967 and I can tell you from my experiences, since I'm still working in an office, that many, many things have changed for the better.

My son is a "rocket scientist" (no, really he is) for NASA at Kennedy Space Center and this is the email all the employees received today:




Women’s Equality Day

NASA joins organizations across the world to celebrate Women’s Equality Day on August 26. The date coincides with the 99th birthday of NASA pioneer Katherine Johnson, and we also send birthday wishes to Katherine as we continue to forge new paths that she helped create for women at NASA and beyond.

If you’ve seen the Hidden Figures movie or read the book, you know how Katherine served as a NASA physicist and mathematician whose work contributed to our success from the earliest days of our agency through the space shuttle and also raised the profile of African American women at NASA. Indeed, Katherine performed the computations needed to assure John Glenn of the safety of his mission as he became the first American in orbit aboard the Friendship 7 in February 1962, among many other achievements.

The history of Women’s Equality Day dates to the 1920 certification of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which granted women the right to vote. When Katherine was born, women in America could not vote. They could not open their own bank accounts or obtain credit without a male family member’s permission. Very few women were in the professional fields, with the exception of a few areas, such as nursing and early childhood education. In short, women in America, regardless of their race or economic class, did not have equal rights to participate in our society.

We still have work to do, but today’s environment is improved because of the tremendous spirit and fearless drive of American women like Katherine Johnson, and so many others of her generation and the generations since.

On this Women’s Equality Day, we are happy to celebrate the lives and achievements of a host of women scientists, engineers, technologists, mathematicians and explorers who devoted their lives’ work to making America a leader in space exploration and science. Many of them, including astronauts like Sally Ride, Mae Jemison, and Ellen Ochoa, are known the world over for their groundbreaking achievements in space flight. But women have pushed the frontier of our achievement in every area – women like Pearl Young, an engineer who became the first female technical employee at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NASA’s predecessor); the women known as the “Mercury 13,” a group of aviators who, in the early 1960s demonstrated their space flight readiness and paved the way for the first women in space 20 years later; and, of course, Katherine Johnson and her colleagues, the human “computers” of the Mercury and Apollo eras.

Today, the women of NASA continue to lead and inspire in all facets of the agency’s mission and operations. The face of NASA in 2017 includes women like Johanna Lucht, an electronics instrumentation system engineer in the Research Engineering Directorate at Armstrong Flight Research Center; Wanda Peters, deputy director for planning and business management in the Flight Projects Directorate at Goddard Space Flight Center; Julie Williams-Byrd, deputy chief technologist at Langley Research Center; Deborah Urbanski, Equal Employment Opportunity director at the Johnson Space Center; Sandra Cauffman, deputy director of the Earth Science division at Headquarters (and also recently honored with a postage stamp in her native Costa Rica for her NASA achievements), along with a myriad of administrative professionals who provide vital support to our mission. And that’s just to name a very few of NASA’s “modern figures,” who by their hard work and example are helping to chart a course for more women to follow their lead.

I invite you to visit the modern figures website and the Women@NASA website to learn more about the rich history and current achievements of NASA women. I also encourage you to participate in activities at NASA and in your communities to commemorate Women’s Equality Day. As we continue to explore the endless possibilities of space flight, and to journey ever farther toward the stars, let’s recognize and honor the achievements of everyone on whose shoulders we stand, and the wonderful work being done today.


Robert


www.nasa.gov

Kudos to your son, as well.

i love her and all the other black ladies.

"Hidden Figures"

An absolutely WONDERFUL film, if you haven't seen it. This one is a MUST.

Imagine a film with Kevin Costner and Jim Parsons in supporting roles!

By the way, the women mathematicians in those days were called "computers." The machine was just "The IBM machine"

Drove me half crazy when they landed before I could watch it through to the end. I ordered the DVD immediately and had it sent to my office in Dallas, who forwards my U.S. mail to me about once a week. It just came yesterday morning.

And thanks for making Humanity better!

I wonder how many kids now a days, could do that.

Finally getting the belated recognition they richly deserve!

Happy Birthday to an American heroine!

BTW, see the movie "Hidden Figures." FANTASTIC!

PEACE!