Hidden Figures

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Hidden Figures Page 38

by Margot Lee Shetterly


  engineering training by, 54–55, 141

  high-speed to spaceflight, 163–164

  integration progress, 167–168, 169–170

  land for, 38, 225

  Langley Research Center from, 171, 183

  NACA and, 2, 209–210. See also National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics

  research review process, 178, 305

  Rosenberg trial repercussions, 101–102, 110

  secrecy at, 52–53

  secretary of navy visit, 41–42

  staffing explosion, 1–2, 99

  townsfolk reactions to, 38, 53

  V-J Day, 64–65, 80

  West Area, 7. See also West Area of Langley

  See also wind tunnels

  Langley Research Center

  aeronautics again, 253

  black engineer recruitment, 230

  Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory into, 171, 183

  NASA open house on first anniversary, 184

  Space Task Group, 183–184, 209. See also Space Task Group

  tracking stations, 206–207

  language used in book, ix

  laundry workers, 9–10, 11, 17

  Lee, Dorothy (computer; scientist), 180, 188

  Lee, Robert Benjamin, III, xi, xii, xiii–xiv, 260

  Lewis, John, 228

  Lindbergh, Charles, 53

  Little Rock (AR), 150

  Loeb, Charles H., 152

  “Lost Generation,” 204

  Lovell, Jim, 248–249

  Lovely, Hester (West Computer), 171, 204

  Loy, Myrna, 53

  Luce, Henry, 71, 299

  Lucy, Autherine, 152

  Lucy, Frederick and Annie, 29, 44

  MacLean, Malcolm, 45–47, 203, 283

  Malvestuto, Frank, 112

  Maneuver Loads Branch, 126, 127

  Mann, Christine

  background, 153–157

  Hampton Institute, 157–159

  Sputnik launches, 149–151, 153, 158

  Mann, Isabelle (West Computer), 171, 204

  Mann, Miriam (West Computer)

  Colored Computers cafeteria sign, 44–45, 48

  daughter’s wedding penny, 167

  engineering group position, 165

  Hampton Institute, 16, 45

  rendezvous research, 219

  secretary of navy visit, 42

  West Computing friendships, 49, 67–68, 78

  West Computing section, 39, 219

  Mann, Noah and Desma, 154–155, 158

  Manned Spacecraft Center (TX), 210

  March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (1963), 228–229

  Marshall, Thurgood

  Brown v. Board of Education, 140–141

  teacher salaries, 70, 74–75

  math aides of NASA, 190, 210. See also computers (human)

  mathematicians

  black mathematicians, 227, 230

  computers versus, 143, 229–230. See also computers (human)

  as “data analysts,” 259

  engineering training of, 54–55, 143–144

  engineers versus, 143–144

  expertise over generalists, 165–166

  first black doctorates, 13, 24

  first Langley black females, 8, 36, 166

  racial integration of women, 205

  salary for Dorothy Vaughan, 21, 79

  status of, 5, 143

  women as, 74, 115, 143, 166

  Mayer, John, 122, 164, 176, 177, 189, 190, 210

  Mayo, Alton, 176, 177

  McCarthy, Joseph, 102

  McConnell, Dudley, 217

  McGraw, Minnie (West Computer), 16, 39

  men in computing, 205

  Mercury Seven astronauts, 188. See also Project Mercury

  military service

  blacks fighting for freedom, 34–36

  segregation, 31, 32, 104

  Mimosa Crescent (Hampton, VA), 62, 132, 155, 185

  missiles

  Atlas, 189, 208, 213–214, 217–218, 221, 223

  Pilotless Aircraft Research Division, 127

  Project Mercury, 189, 208, 209, 213–214

  Redstone, 189, 208–209

  Soviet threat, 152, 301

  spaceflight applications, 163–164

  US capabilities, 162

  Mission Control

  Atlas rocket communication, 221

  capsule communication, 206–207, 221

  electronic computer alarms, 207

  film crews, 217

  heat shield of John Glenn, 224

  no blacks, 241

  “Mississippiitis,” 152

  Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada (1938), 24, 75

  Moon shot

  cost of space program, 240–241, 251–252

  Kennedy challenge, 209

  NASA Group Achievement Awards, 249

  Project Gemini, 242

  rendezvous, 218, 219, 248

  Saturn rocket, 218, 239

  television coverage, 235–237

  “three nines” risk standard, 233–234

  two vehicle time line, 233

  See also Project Apollo; Project Mercury

  Morgan, Irene, 44–45, 168

  Morgan v. Virginia (1946), 44–45

  Moron, Alonzo G., 97, 203

  Moton High School (VA). See Prince Edward County (VA)

  Moulton, Forest Ray, 176, 191

  Mueller, Emily Stephens (scientist), 179–180

  Mulcahy, Helen (East Computer), 198

  Munk, Max, 53

  Muroc. See Dryden High-Speed Flight Research Center (CA)

  Murray, Albert, 238

  Murray v. Pearson (1936), 24

  Mustangs. See P-51 Mustangs

  NAACP

  Brown v. Board of Education, 140–141

  bus segregation, 44–45

  Chief Counsel Thurgood Marshall, 70, 74–75, 140–141

  Farmville founder Dorothy Vaughan, 19

  graduate school desegregation, 24, 74–75

  Joseph McCarthy target, 102

  teacher salaries, 70, 75

  top lawyer Charles Hamilton Houston, 24, 32, 70, 74–75

  Virginia school integration, 169

  NACA. See National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics

  NASA. See National Aeronautics and Space Administration

  National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)

  accomplishments, 111

  aircraft design, 3–4, 55–58

  Area Rule, 110–111

  charter of, 111, 275

  employee badge, 37

  engineering training by, 54–55

  executive committee members, 53

  fair employment officer, 104–105

  integration progress, 167–168, 169–170

  Korean War, 99

  laminar flow airfoils, 55, 111

  Langley Lab and, 2, 37, 209–210. See also Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory

  NASA name, 170–171, 183, 304

  research report writers, xvii, 40, 85–86, 88, 290

  research review process, 178, 305

  Rosenberg trial repercussions, 101–102, 110

  as space operations center, 170

  supersonic flight, 84–85, 99–100. See also supersonic flight

  See also wind tunnels

  National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

  black employees, xiv, 217–219, 227–228, 241–242

  charter of, 171

  cost of space program, 240–241, 251–252

  deputy assistant administrator Ruth Bates Harris, xiii

  Federal Women’s Program Manager, 256–257

  Langley Research Center as epicenter, 183

  “math aides” for human computers, 190, 210

  NACA into, 170–171, 183, 304

  NASA Group Achievement Awards, 249

  open house on first anniversary, 184

  quickest route into space, 164, 187

  Space Task Group, 183–184. See also Space Ta
sk Group

  Technical Assistant to Division Chief of Space Systems, 258

  transparency of, 170–171, 217, 222

  West Computing dissolved, 171–173, 204, 218–219

  women engineer increase, 255

  workforce reduction, 253

  National Defense Education Act (1958), 158

  National Technical Association, 197

  “Negro” use in book, ix. See also black Americans

  Newport News (VA)

  East End segregation, 29–30, 61–63

  John Glenn hero’s welcome, 225

  racial tensions, 31

  shipyard, 38, 120

  V-J Day, 64–65

  as war town, 27–29, 79–80

  Newsome Park (Newport News, VA), 29, 61–63, 64, 66–67, 131–132, 241, 252

  newspapers. See black newspapers

  Nichols, Nichelle, 242–243

  “no-air” research, 58, 83, 112

  Northrop Corp. engineer Virginia Tucker, 86–87

  Obama, Barack, 250

  “Old White,” 71. See also Greenbrier resort

  orbit requirements, 163. See also satellites

  Osgood, Catherine T. (math aide), 210

  P for pursuit planes, 57

  P-51 Mustangs, 51–52, 55, 57

  Paine, Tom, 240

  PARD. See Pilotless Aircraft Research Division

  Parks, Rosa, 168, 202

  pay scales. See salaries

  Peake, Mary, 16

  Pearson, Henry, 122, 125–126, 176–177, 191–192

  Peddrew, Kathryn “Chubby” (West Computer), 49, 78, 132, 165, 167

  Peddrew, Marjorie (West Computer), 78, 171, 204

  Perl, William, 101–102

  Perry, John, 227

  Phenix High School (Hampton, VA), 94, 95, 142, 186

  Phillips, John Mallory, 78

  Phillips, W. H., 164

  Pickford, Mary, 71

  Pilotless Aircraft Research Division (PARD)

  rocketry, 127, 164

  Space Task Group, 183–184. See also Space Task Group

  women scientists, 179–180

  plane name designations, 57

  Presidential Medal of Freedom, 172, 250

  Prince Edward County (VA)

  Altona Johns as teacher, 20, 33–34

  Dorothy Vaughan as teacher, 10, 15, 19–20, 21, 92

  Moton High School conditions, 19, 92, 140–141

  schools closed, 203–204, 304, 309

  Prohibition and Hampton (VA), 38

  Project Apollo

  Achievement Awards, 219, 249

  Apollo 11 mission, 239–240, 244

  Apollo 13 crisis, 248–249

  cost, 240

  end of, 252

  fire and death, 233

  lunar rendezvous, 248

  Moon landing TV coverage, 235–237

  Project Gemini, 242

  “Project Greek Island,” 151–152

  Project Mercury

  astronaut selection, 188–189

  ballistic to orbital, 190

  capsule, 188, 201, 208, 213, 214, 221

  concluding flight, 228

  “dummy” four-orbit flight, 219, 222

  electronic computers used, 205–206, 207

  first American into space, 208–209

  first orbital flight, 209, 213–217, 223–224

  “fly-by-wire” controls, 216

  goals of, 184

  IBM 7090s vs. Katherine Johnson, xvii, 211, 216–217, 219–223

  Kennedy moon challenge, 209

  launch date slips, 207–208, 215

  rockets, 189, 208, 209, 213–214

  suborbital flight, 211

  tracking stations, 206–207, 216, 217, 221, 258

  trajectories, 189–191, 214, 215–217

  Rainey, Gerald, 146

  Rainey, Ruby (East Computer), 231

  RAND Corporation satellite report, 161

  Randolph, A. Philip

  Communism denouncement, 103

  Du Bois as guide, 229

  Martin Luther King Jr. and, 6, 168, 228, 229

  Negro war employment, 5–6

  new generation, 168

  Rauh, Joseph, 6

  Redstone rocket, 189, 208–209

  reentry

  blunt body, 163, 188

  heat shield of John Glenn, 223–224

  retrofire output from Goddard, 222

  self-education lecture series, 177

  Sue Wilder research, 219

  Reid, Henry

  black women mathematicians, 46–47, 283

  on bombing of Japan, 59

  cafeteria glimpses of, 43

  character of, 4, 46

  correspondence with Orville Wright, 46, 283

  Kathryn Peddrew for United Fund Drive, 167

  spy warnings by, 52

  research. See engineers

  Reynolds number for wind tunnels, 56

  Ribner, Herbert, 112

  Richie, Christine (West Computer), 105, 171

  RIFs and RIGs (reductions in force and grade), 253

  Robeson, Paul, 103

  Robinson, Jackie, 140

  Robinson, Spottswood, 140

  rockets

  Atlas, 189, 208, 213–214, 217–218, 221, 223

  Pilotless Aircraft Research Division (PARD), 127, 164

  Project Mercury, 189, 208, 209, 213–214

  Redstone, 189, 208–209

  reusable, 163–164

  Saturn, 218, 239, 240

  Scout solid-fuel, 219

  Roddenberry, Gene, 243

  Rogallo, Francis, 42

  Roosevelt, Eleanor, 6, 9–10

  Roosevelt, Franklin

  airplane production boost, 3, 41

  desegregation of defense industry, 6, 15–16, 32

  “Four Freedoms,” 31

  photos on civil service applications, 6–7

  Rosenberg, Ethel and Julius, 101

  Rosenberg trial repercussions, 101–102, 110

  Rosenberg, Sam, 88

  Roy, Melba (mathematician), 218, 255

  Russia. See Soviet Union

  Rustin, Bayard, 228

  salaries

  computers, 5

  laundry workers, 10

  mathematicians, 21, 79, 121

  teachers, 10–11, 17, 63, 70, 118, 121

  Satchell, Lorraine (West Computer), 171, 204

  satellites

  Explorer I, 158, 162

  International Geophysical Year, 162, 175

  launch requirements, 163

  Pilotless Aircraft Research Division, 127, 164

  Rand report, 161

  reusable launch vehicle, 163–164

  Sputniks. See Sputniks

  Vanguard I, 158, 162

  Saturn rocket, 218, 239, 240

  Schirra, Wally, 188

  Schy, Al, 131

  scientists, women as, xvi, 179–180, 257, 305

  Scott-Heron, Gil, 240

  Scout solid-fuel rocket, 219

  Seabass, Richard, 262

  secrecy

  at Langley, 52–53

  Mary Winston Jackson clearance, 98

  Rosenberg trial repercussions, 101–102

  secretary of navy to Langley, 41–42

  segregation

  Anne Wythe Hall, 44

  bathrooms at Langley, xv, 8, 43, 44, 48, 108, 129, 146–147, 169–170, 179

  Bay Shore vs. Buckroe Beaches, 78, 93, 118

  Brown v. Board of Education, 135, 140–141, 153–154, 157, 304

  Brown vs. Virginia, 168–169, 184–186, 203–204, 304, 309

  buses, 22, 30, 31, 36, 44–45, 69–70, 168, 202

  cafeteria at Langley, 43–45, 48, 130, 146–147, 169

  deeply rooted, 33, 103–104, 169, 185

  East Area of Langley, 108

  East End, 29–30, 61–62

  federal defense industry, 6, 15–16, 32

  federal employment, 33

  foreigners to US, 103–104
<
br />   fuzzy boundaries at Langley, 123–124, 169

  Girl Scouts, 198, 256

  graduate school programs, 24–25, 75

  Hampton schools, xi, 142, 144–145

  Holiday Inn bar, 146

  hotels in south, 117

  Housing Rights Act, 241

  Jewish computer with Negro friend, 102

  Langley Activities Building versus, 167–168

  Little Rock, 150

  men-only smokers, 83

  military service, 31, 32, 104

  “Mississippiitis,” 152

  photos on civil service applications, 6–7, 33, 94

  Poconos resorts, 238

  University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 157

  USO clubs, 34

  Virginia schools vs. Brown, 168–169, 184–186, 203–204, 304, 309

  Virginia vs. West Virginia, 69–70

  West Area of Langley, 7, 37, 43–45, 48, 104–105

  West Computer as Colored Computer, 167

  women on golf course, 255

  Woolworth’s lunch counter, 201

  Shepard, Alan, 188, 208–209

  Shetterly, Aran, xi, 270–271

  Simone, Nina, 156

  Skopinski, Ted, 164, 176, 177, 189, 190, 191–192, 210, 211

  Smart, JoAnne, 157

  Smith, Benjamin Lee, 157

  Smith, Eunice (West Computer), 120, 168, 171, 186, 204, 232

  Smith, Willianna (West Computer), 264

  The Souls of Black Folk (Du Bois), 33, 109

  Soviet Union

  as ally, 36

  atomic capability, 98, 152, 301

  first full day in space, 215

  first human to orbit, 208, 209

  International Geophysical Year, 162, 175

  Jim Crow influencer, 170

  Rosenberg spies, 101

  Sputnik. See Sputniks

  as threat, 66, 98–99

  women in engineering schools, 158

  See also Cold War

  Space Act (1958), 171

  Space Task Group (STG)

  formation, 183–184, 188–189, 190, 191

  Friendship 7 launch, 223

  Mission Planning Analysis Division, 218, 220–221

  move to Houston, 209, 210

  “three nines” risk standard, 233–234

  spaceflight

  high-speed flight applied to, 163–164

  Introduction to Outer Space, 175, 305

  NACA to NASA, 170–171, 183

  self-education lecture series, 176–177

  See also Moon shot

  “Spacetown, USA,” xviii, 225, 273

  Speegle, Katherine Cullie (scientist), 179–180

  Sponsler, Blanche (East & West Computing)

  illness, 89–91

  West Computing section assistant, 40, 81

  West Computing section head, 88–89, 91

  Sputniks

  education and, 142, 158

  launches of, 150–151, 158

  NASA birth, 170–171, 183

  Rand report, 161

  rocket built in metal shop class, xiv

  Soviet threat, 152, 158, 162

  watching, 161, 162

  Stability and Control Branch, 127

  Stability Research Division, 58, 82–83, 87, 102, 112

 

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