Mary Winston Jackson (1921–2005)

Mary Winston Jackson was an American mathematician and aerospace engineer at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), which would later become the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Jackson was born on April 9, 1921, in Hampton, Virginia, to Ella and Frank Winston. She … Read MoreMary Winston Jackson (1921–2005)

Dorothy Johnson Vaughan (1910-2008)

Dorothy Johnson Vaughan was a teacher who became a leading mathematical engineer in the first aerospace program with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and the first African American woman promoted to supervisor in the program. Vaughan was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on … Read MoreDorothy Johnson Vaughan (1910-2008)

Katherine Goble Johnson (1918-2020)

Katherine Goble Johnson, heralded as the first African American woman in Aerospace Engineering, was born on August 26, 1918, in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia, a city where schooling for “colored” people ended with the eighth grade. In 1937, she graduated summa cum laude (with … Read MoreKatherine Goble Johnson (1918-2020)

Sylvanus Alexander Tyler Sr. (1914-1986)

Sylvanus Alexander Tyler, mathematician and biostatistician, was born on August 21, 1914 to Daniel and Jesse Tyler. Tyler was raised in Chicago, Illinois along with his two younger brothers, Homer and Daniel, all of whom attended the city’s public schools. Tyler received his bachelor’s degree … Read MoreSylvanus Alexander Tyler Sr. (1914-1986)

Martha Euphemia Lofton Haynes (1890-1980)

Martha Euphemia Lofton Haynes was the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics. Her dissertation, Determination of Sets of Independent Conditions Characterizing Certain Special Cases of Symmetric Correspondence was advised by Aubrey Landry, a professor at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. Haynes … Read MoreMartha Euphemia Lofton Haynes (1890-1980)

Marjorie Edwina Pitter King (1921-1996)

Marjorie Edwina Pitter King, the youngest of the Pitter sisters, was born March 8, 1921, to Edward A. Pitter and Marjorie Allen Pitter, in Seattle, Washington. When she graduated from Garfield High School, she joined her sisters at the University of Washington to study for … Read MoreMarjorie Edwina Pitter King (1921-1996)