“But to see other people so excited about it, that was amazing.”
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Gladys West
Gladys Brown West was an American mathematician. She was known for her contributions to mathematical modeling of the shape of the Earth, and her work on the development of satellite geodesy models, which were later incorporated into the Global Positioning System (GPS).
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science · American mathematician (1930–2026) · mathematician · surveyor · also Gladys West, Gladys Mae West, Gladys Brown, Gladys B. West, Gladys Mae Brown, West
Born 27 October 1930 · Died 17 January 2026 · Q48399950
29 published statements · 0 followers
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2026· 4 entries
“I never stopped one moment just to feel sorry for myself and say: ‘Oh boy, I’d never make it.’ I just said: ‘What’s next?’”
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“And sure enough, when I graduated from high school, I got one.”
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Died 2026-01-17.
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2024· 1 entry
Virginia's Fredericksburg City School Board voted to name its third elementary school in her honor, Gladys West Elementary School
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2021· 2 entries
Won Prince Philip Medal (2021).
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The UK's Royal Academy of Engineering awarded her the Prince Philip Medal, its highest individual honor
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2020· 2 entries
Published “Global burden of 87 risk factors in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019” in The Lancet — cited 8,069 times.
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Published “Global, regional, and national sepsis incidence and mortality, 1990–2017: analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study” in The Lancet — cited 7,057 times.
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2018· 4 entries
Awarded BBC 100 Women (2018).
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One of the highest honors bestowed by Air Force Space Command (AFSPC)
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Published “Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific mortality for 282 causes of death in 195 countries and territories, 1980–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017” in The Lancet — cited 6,200 times.
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Published “Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 354 diseases and injuries for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017” in The Lancet — cited 11,014 times.
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2014· 1 entry
Published “PD-1 blockade induces responses by inhibiting adaptive immune resistance” in Nature — cited 5,959 times.
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2012· 1 entry
Published “Observation of a new boson at a mass of 125 GeV with the CMS experiment at the LHC” in Physics Letters B — cited 6,664 times.
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2011· 2 entries
Published “The behaviour change wheel: A new method for characterising and designing behaviour change interventions” in Implementation Science — cited 11,058 times.
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Published “Solutions for a cultivated planet” in Nature — cited 6,883 times.
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2004· 1 entry
Published “TOWARD A METABOLIC THEORY OF ECOLOGY” in Ecology — cited 6,632 times.
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2002· 1 entry
Published “A comparison of methods to test mediation and other intervening variable effects.” in Psychological Methods — cited 6,978 times.
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2000· 2 entries
“You never think that anything you are doing militarily is going to be that exciting. We never thought about it being transferred to civilian life, so that was a pleasant surprise.”
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Completed a PhD in Public Administration at Virginia Tech by distance learning
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1987· 2 entries
Published “Doing Gender” in Gender & Society — cited 8,200 times.
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Published “A Simple, Positive Semi-Definite, Heteroskedasticity and Autocorrelation Consistent Covariance Matrix” in Econometrica — cited 15,274 times.
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1986· 1 entry
West published Data Processing System Specifications for the Geosat Satellite Radar Altimeter, a 51-page technical report from the Naval Surface Weapons Center (NSWC)
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1956· 2 entries
Likely had no idea that her work would impact the world for decades to come"
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West was hired to work at the Naval Proving Ground in Dahlgren, Virginia (later the Naval Surface Warfare Center)
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1955· 1 entry
Studied at Virginia State University, Master of Mathematics (1955).
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1952· 1 entry
With a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics, and then taught mathematics and science for two years in Waverly, Virginia
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1930· 1 entry
Born 1930-10-27.
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