WHO IS KATHERINE JOHNSON? Katherine Johnson (1918-2020) was an African American physicist and mathematician who worked at NASA during the early years of the space program. In this biography, the NASA Science Team describes Johnson’s early life and her time working on their space missions.
As you read, take notes on the challenges Johnson faced along her career path.

Katherine Johnson was an African-American mathematician who worked for NASA from 1953 until 1986. She was a human computer. In a time when minorities held very few jobs in mathematics and science, Johnson was a trailblazer. Her work in calculating the paths for spaceships to travel was monumental in helping NASA successfully put an American in orbit around Earth. Then her work helped to land astronauts on the moon.

WHAT WAS KATHERINE JOHNSON’S EARLY LIFE LIKE?

Katherine Johnson was born in 1918 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. As a very young girl, she loved to count things. She counted everything, from the number of steps she took to get to the road to the number of forks and plates she washed when doing the dishes.

Johnson was born with a love for mathematics. At a young age, she was very eager to go to school. Even when she was in her 90s, Johnson could vividly recall watching her older siblings go to school, wishing so much that she could go with them. When Johnson finally did start school, she so excelled that by age 10, she was in high school. By age 15, she’d started college.

1. Katherine Johnson was considered to be a pioneer of her time. True or False?