“I see a picture right now that’s not parallel, so I’m going to go straighten it. Things must be in order.”
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Katherine Johnson
Creola Katherine Johnson was an American mathematician and human computer whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights. During her 33-year career at NASA and its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, she earned a reputation for mastering complex manual calculations and helped pio…
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science · American mathematician (1918–2020) · computer scientist · physicist · military flight engineer · mathematician · teacher · writer · also Katherine Johnson, Katherine Coleman, Katherine Goble, Creola Katherine Johnson, Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson, Johnson
Born 26 August 1918 · Died 24 February 2020 · Q11740
68 published statements · 0 followers
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2026· 13 entries
“I don’t have a feeling of inferiority. Never had. I’m as good as anybody, but no better.”
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“We will always have STEM with us. Some things will drop out of the public eye and will go away, but there will always be science, engineering, and technology. And there will always, always be mathematics.”
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“We needed to be assertive as women in those days – assertive and aggressive – and the degree to which we had to be that way depended on where you were. I had to be.”
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“I like to learn. That’s an art and a science.”
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“In math, you’re either right or you’re wrong.”
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“I counted everything. I counted the steps to the road, the steps up to church, the number of dishes and silverware I washed … anything that could be counted, I did.”
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“The women did what they were told to do. They didn’t ask questions or take the task any further. I asked questions; I wanted to know why. They got used to me asking questions and being the only woman there.”
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“You are no better than anyone else, and no one is better than you.”
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“Take all the courses in your curriculum. Do the research. Ask questions. Find someone doing what you are interested in! Be curious!”
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“Everything was so new – the whole idea of going into space was new and daring. There were no textbooks, so we had to write them.”
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“Let me do it. You tell me when you want it and where you want it to land, and I’ll do it backwards and tell you when to take off.”
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“Girls are capable of doing everything men are capable of doing. Sometimes they have more imagination than men.”
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2025· 1 entry
KEYT: NASA Trailblazer Katherine Johnson Soars Among Aviation Legends in Commemorative “250 Years of Flight” Magazine
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2022· 2 entries
Awarded National Women's Hall of Fame (2022).
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Published “Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance in 2019: a systematic analysis” in The Lancet — cited 14,025 times.
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2021· 3 entries
Was posthumously inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame
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The Baltimore County Public Schools named one of its three new schools Katherine Johnson Global Academy
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San Juan Unified School District in Sacramento, California, named its newest school Katherine Johnson Middle School
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2020· 7 entries
A satellite named after Johnson (ÑuSat 15 or "Katherine", COSPAR 2020-079G) was launched into space
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Fairfax County Public Schools—the largest school division in Virginia and 12th-largest school division in the U
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Won Hubbard Medal (2020).
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Died 2020-02-24.
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Published “Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019” in The Lancet — cited 16,051 times.
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Bethel School District, Washington, named its newest school Katherine G
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The United States Space Force named the GPS 3 Space Vehicle 8 satellite Creola Katherine Johnson
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2019· 5 entries
Won Congressional Gold Medal (2019).
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The University of Johannesburg and its Faculty of Science conferred Johnson with the degree of Philosophiae Doctor Honoris causa for her pioneering role at NASA
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NASA renamed the Independent Verification and Validation Facility in Fairmont, West Virginia, the Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Facility
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The United States Congress awarded Johnson the Congressional Gold Medal and NASA announced the establishment of the Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Facility in her home state of West Virginia
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Government Executive included Johnson in the inaugural class of its Government Hall of Fame
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2018· 2 entries
The College of William & Mary awarded Johnson an honorary doctorate
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Mattel announced a Barbie doll in Johnson's likeness with a NASA identity badge
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2017· 1 entry
Awarded honorary degree from Spelman College (2017).
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2016· 12 entries
Johnson received the Langley West Computing Unit NASA Group Achievement Award at a reception at the Virginia Air and Space Center
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EDN: Katherine Johnson, NASA mathematician and scientist
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Awarded BBC 100 Women (2016).
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Awarded Virginia Women in History (2016).
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Awarded Arthur B.C. Walker II Award (2016).
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A new 40,000-square-foot (3,700 m2) building was named the "Katherine G
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And included Johnson; she declined to have her likeness printed on the final product
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Astronomical Society of the Pacific's Arthur B
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Published “DADA2: High-resolution sample inference from Illumina amplicon data” in Nature Methods — cited 33,105 times.
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Published “Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger” in Physical Review Letters — cited 11,729 times.
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“It was well done. The three leading ladies did an excellent job portraying us.”
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Received the Silver Snoopy Award from NASA astronaut Leland D
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2015· 5 entries
SpaceNews: Katherine Johnson: The Girl Who Loved to Count
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President Barack Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom
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Won Presidential Medal of Freedom presented by Barack Obama (2015).
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Awarded NCWIT Pioneer in Tech Award (2015).
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President Barack Obama awarded Johnson the Presidential Medal of Freedom
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2008· 1 entry
Published “Model-based Analysis of ChIP-Seq (MACS)” in Genome Biology — cited 17,939 times.
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2006· 1 entry
Published “How Many Interviews Are Enough?” in Field Methods — cited 16,443 times.
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2005· 1 entry
Published “Standardisation of spirometry” in European Respiratory Journal — cited 12,773 times.
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2003· 1 entry
Published “Geant4—a simulation toolkit” in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment — cited 21,345 times.
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2001· 1 entry
Published “Initial sequencing and analysis of the human genome” in Nature — cited 18,636 times.
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1986· 1 entry
Johnson worked as a computer for NACA's successor, the Spacecraft Controls Branch
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1972· 1 entry
Published “Optical Constants of the Noble Metals” in Physical Review B — cited 18,281 times.
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1970· 1 entry
Johnson worked on the Apollo 13 Moon mission
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1961· 1 entry
Her work helped to ensure that Alan Shepard's Freedom 7 Mercury capsule was found quickly after landing, using the accurate trajectory that had been established
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1958· 1 entry
When the agency was superseded by NASA, which adopted digital computers
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1952· 1 entry
A relative mentioned that the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was hiring for its West Area computing section
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1940· 1 entry
Studied at West Virginia University (1939–1940).
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1939· 1 entry
After marrying her first husband, James Goble, she left her teaching job and enrolled in a graduate mathematics program
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1937· 2 entries
At age 18, she graduated summa cum laude with degrees in mathematics and French
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Studied at West Virginia State University (1933–1937).
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1918· 2 entries
Born 1918-08-26.
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In White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, to Joylette Roberta (née Lowe) and Joshua McKinley Coleman
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