Hidden Figures
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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