Pioneering black NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson dies

Katherine Johnson, a mathematician who calculated rocket trajectories and earth orbits for NASA’s early space missions and was later portrayed in the 2016 hit film “Hidden Figures,” about pioneering black female aerospace workers, has died. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement that Johnson “helped our nation enlarge the frontiers of space even as she made huge strides that also opened doors for women and people of color.” Johnson was one of the “computers” who solved equations by hand during NASA’s early years and those of its precursor organization, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. “She gave us a new way to look at black history, women’s history and American history.” Johnson considered her work on the Apollo moon missions to be her greatest contribution to space exploration. “My dad taught us ‘you are as good as anybody in this town, but you’re no better,’” Johnson told NASA in 2008.