

The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was hiring women with math experience. Katherine soon learned of a job opportunity that seemed too good to be true. Also, there were federal government facilities nearby where Katherine might find work. Looking for a fresh start, they moved to Newport News, Virginia. In 1951, Katherine and Jimmie’s home caught fire. During summer break, Jimmie worked as a chauffeur and Katherine as a maid because their teaching salaries were not enough to cover their expenses. She and Jimmie soon had three daughters, born in 1940, 1943, and 1944.īy 1947, Katherine returned to teaching with Jimmie. After one year, Katherine returned to Virginia. As an educated Black woman, teaching was the most likely profession for her, with or without a graduate degree. Katherine loved high-level math, but she did not see the value in completing her graduate degree. That same year, Katherine accepted an invitation to integrate West Virginia University as one of the first Black graduate students. Within a few months, Katherine took a job teaching and met fellow educator Jimmie Goble. By 18, she graduated with a double degree in French and math. After high school, she enrolled at the historically Black college, West Virginia State.

Katherine was incredibly smart and finished high school when she was just 13 years old. And, in order to reach the nearest Black high school, the Coleman family had to move 80 miles. The Black school had only two rooms for seven grades. At that time, the school system was segregated. This was an ambitious goal for a Black family in the South. Katherine’s parents were determined their four children would complete college. He died in 1956, and three years later she married James Johnson.Katherine Coleman was born on August 26, 1918, in West Virginia. She studied math there but soon left after marrying James Goble and deciding to start a family. In 1939, however, she was selected to be one of the first three African American students to enroll in a graduate program at West Virginia University. She subsequently moved to Virginia to take a teaching job. In 1937, at age 18, Coleman graduated with highest honours from West Virginia State College (now West Virginia State University), earning bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and French. Her work helped send astronauts to the Moon.Ĭoleman’s intelligence and skill with numbers became apparent when she was a child by the time she was 10 years old, she had started attending high school. Katherine Johnson, née Katherine Coleman, also known as (1939–56) Katherine Goble, (born August 26, 1918, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, U.S.-died February 24, 2020, Newport News, Virginia), American mathematician who calculated and analyzed the flight paths of many spacecraft during her more than three decades with the U.S. Three years after his death, she married James Johnson.

From 1939 to 1956 she was Katherine Goble, having married James Goble. Katherine Johnson’s maiden name was Coleman. SpaceNext50 Britannica presents SpaceNext50, From the race to the Moon to space stewardship, we explore a wide range of subjects that feed our curiosity about space!.Learn about the major environmental problems facing our planet and what can be done about them! Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century.Britannica Beyond We’ve created a new place where questions are at the center of learning.100 Women Britannica celebrates the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, highlighting suffragists and history-making politicians.
KATHERINE JOHNSON NASA ENGINEER HOW TO
COVID-19 Portal While this global health crisis continues to evolve, it can be useful to look to past pandemics to better understand how to respond today.

