Assembly Resolution No. 860
BY: M. of A. Peoples-Stokes
CELEBRATING the life and accomplishments of of
Katherine Johnson, renowned mathematician and a true
pioneer of the space era
WHEREAS, There are certain outstanding members of our community who,
through their selfless commitment and dedication, have served to better
the quality of life in our community and have had a measurable positive
impact on the lives of its residents; Katherine Johnson was one such
individual; and
WHEREAS, It is with great sorrow and deep regret that this
Legislative Body records the passing of Katherine Johnson, noting the
significance of her purposeful life and accomplishments; and
WHEREAS, Katherine Johnson, an American mathematician whose
calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to
the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights, died
on Monday, February 24, 2020, at the age of 101; and
WHEREAS, Wielding little more than a pencil, a slide rule and one of
the finest mathematical minds in the country, Katherine Johnson
calculated the precise trajectories that would let Apollo 11 land on the
moon in 1969, and after Neil Armstrong's history-making moonwalk, allow
its safe return to Earth; and
WHEREAS, Katherine Johnson's impeccable calculations had already
helped plot the successful flight of Alan B. Shepard Jr., who became the
first American in space when his Mercury spacecraft went aloft in 1961;
the very next year, she helped make it possible for John Glenn, in the
Mercury vessel Friendship 7, to become the first American to orbit the
Earth; and
WHEREAS, A few days before his historic flight, John Glenn made a
final check of his planned orbital trajectory which had been generated
by a computer which was still a novelty at NASA; and
WHEREAS, Unsettled by the calculations of a computer, John Glenn
asked Katherine Johnson to double-check the machine's figures by hand;
he then declared, "If she says the numbers are good, I'm ready to go.";
and
WHEREAS, Throughout Katherine Johnson's 33 years in NASA's Flight
Research Division, the office from which the American space program
sprang, and for decades afterward, almost no one knew her name; and
WHEREAS, Katherine Johnson was one of several hundred rigorously
educated, supremely capable yet largely unheralded women who worked as a
NASA mathematician; in addition to her gender, this extraordinary woman,
who began her scientific career in the age of Jim Crow, was also
African-American; and
WHEREAS, Katherine Johnson began her illustrious career with NASA in
June of 1953, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an Executive
Order barring racial discrimination in the defense industry; she began
in Langley's West Area Computing Unit, the segregated office to which
the black women were regulated, tabulating sheets of data for the
agency's engineers; and
WHEREAS, Two weeks into her new job, Katherine Johnson was borrowed
by the Flight Research Division, where she helped calculate the
aerodynamic forces of airplanes, quickly demonstrating herself as an
invaluable asset; she remained in the division for the remainder of her
career; and
WHEREAS, Katherine Johnson went on to become the most celebrated of
the small cadre of black women who served as mathematicians for the
space agency and its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for
Aeronautics; and
WHEREAS, In 2015, President Barack Obama awarded her the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, and two years later, NASA dedicated a
building in her honor, the Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research
Facility, at its Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia; and
WHEREAS, Through the years, Katherine Johnson published numerous
technical papers, and was the first woman at NASA to be named author or
co-author on an agency report; and
WHEREAS, Katherine Johnson was truly instrumental in enlarging the
frontiers of space while simultaneously making huge strides for women
and people of color in the universal human quest to explore space;
through her tenacity, she literally opened the doors for women to attend
NASA's scientific briefings; and
WHEREAS, After retiring from NASA, Katherine Johnson traveled across
the country to promote the importance of a good mathematics education,
which can strengthen the power of reasoning, creativity, abstract or
spatial thinking, critical thinking, problem-solving ability and even
effective communication skills; and
WHEREAS, Predeceased by her second husband, James, and her daughter,
Connie, Katherine Johnson is survived by two daughters, Joylette Hylick
and Katherine Moore; six grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren, as
well as numerous colleagues, friends, and children who dream of changing
the world; and
WHEREAS, Katherine Johnson's name is synonymous with character,
dignity, intellect, depth and humor, qualities evident to her family and
to all those who were fortunate enough to have known her; she will be
deeply missed and truly merits the grateful tribute of this Legislative
Body; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
celebrate the life and accomplishments of of Katherine Johnson, renowned
mathematician and a true pioneer of the space era; and be it further
RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be
transmitted to the family of Katherine Johnson.
