meet katherine johnson, nasa mathematician who played a key role in apollo 11 moon landing

History often forgets the quiet heroes among us, the ones who did their jobs impeccably and helped to move the needle in the areas like science, mathematics, or other extremely important and criminally overlooked fields. But the woman whose intellect helped to usher in the space age cannot and will not be overlooked! Medal of Honor recipient Katherine Johnson was one of the several Black women who played a ke role in sending John Glenn to space for Apollo 11’s moon landing. She’s the subject of the new film “Hidden Figures” starring Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monae, Octavia Spencer, and Mahershala Ali. Vanity Fair featured her story and had this to say: “When Katherine began at NASA, she and her cohorts were known as “human computers,” and if you talk to her or read quotes from throughout her long career, you can see that precision, that humming mind, constantly at work. She is a human computer, indeed, but one with a quick wit, a quiet ambition, and a confidence in her talents that rose above her era and her surroundings.” Katherine says,“In math, you’re either right or you’re wrong,” and her being right was life or death for the Apollo 11 moon landing, making her an integral part of American history. What a display of genius!

By T. McLendon, AFROPUNK Contributor