Human Computers at NASA

Beginning in 1935, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), a precursor of NASA, hired hundreds of women as computers. The job title described someone who performed mathematical equations and calculations by hand, according to a NASA history.

The computers worked at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in Virginia.

Human computers were not a new concept. In the late 19th and early 20th century, computers at Harvard University analyzed star photos to learn more about their basic properties. Those computers were women who made discoveries still fundamental to astronomy today. For example, Williamina Fleming is best known for classifying stars based on their temperature, and Annie Jump Cannon developed a stellar classification system still used today (from hottest to coolest stars: O, B, A, F, G, K, M.)

During World War II, the computer pool was expanded. Langley began recruiting African-American women with college degrees to work as computers, according to NASA. However, segregation policies required that these women work in a separate section, called the West Area Computers — although computing sections became more integrated after the first several years.

As the years passed and the center evolved, the West Computers became engineers and electronic computer programmers. The women were the first black managers at Langley and it was their brilliant work that propelled the first American, John Glenn, into orbit in 1962.

Katherine Johnson was an American mathematician. She made important contributions to the United States space program during her career at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Her work helped send astronauts to the Moon.

Katherine Coleman was born on August 26, 1918, in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. Her intelligence and skill with numbers became obvious when she was a child. She was in high school by the time she was 10 years old. Katherine graduated from West Virginia State College in 1937 with highest honors and then took a teaching job in Virginia.

In 1953 Johnson began work at the West Area Computing unit of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The West Computers, as they were known, were a group of African American women. They studied data from tests and provided mathematical computations that were essential to the success of the U.S. space program.

In 1962 John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth. However, before he left the ground, he wanted to make sure the electronic computer had planned the flight correctly. He asked to have Johnson double check the computer’s calculations. Johnson was also part of the team that calculated where and when the rocket would be launched that would send the first three men to the Moon. Johnson also worked on the space shuttle program. She retired from NASA in 1986. Johnson died on February 24, 2020.