Katherine Johnson Biography | Hacker News Reader

Katherine Johnson Biography

nasa.gov

120 pointswglb14 comments

I just saw the movie Hidden Figures which is based on the incredible achievements of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson. I was happily surprised to see this on HN. If you haven’t seen it, please do.

It was an eye opener for me as an non-American to see how normalized racism was in the 1960’s even at places like NASA where one might assume science trumps ignorance.

Fully agree. Considered this movie an eye opener as well - highly recommend to those who haven't seen it yet.

Since the movie, when people speak of "not lowering the bar" i have to think about how much people like her (and many others) had/have to run and jump uphill to even get to the bar.

I often exclaim how glad I am that my work doesn't directly lead to a life and death situation, but reading her biography gives a sense of the pride that must go along with those demanding challenges. I don't have those kinds of nerves, or I don't trust my ability not to error. I'm impressed by those who work in the fields of navigation and aviation.

Having others trust their lives to you is the highest honor you can have. What a remarkable person.

While reading I was imagining the movie "Hidden Figures" which I saw recently, and it turns out it was her. Was pleased to read she received the medal of freedom. Why did it take until 2015?

And would she have a chance of receiving such an honor today?

Why not?

Aside from the obvious answer that the current US president is one of the most openly racist in the past 40 years, there's a strong indication that white presidents fail to award black achievement, especially by women. Otherwise she would have been awarded the medal considerably earlier, given her retirement in 1986.

(The sample size is unfortunately limited; I recommend electing more black presidents to further test this hypothesis.)

I haven't found anything specifically about this, but Margot Lee Shetterly started researching the book in 2010 and sold movie rights in 2014. I also found a photo of the (human) computers from a lecture she did in 2014. So it seems like there was enough publicity then to get the attention of the Obama administration?

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