Sometimes they have more imagination than men.As a human computer, Katherine calculated the trajectory for astronaut Alan ShepardвЂ™s 1961 Freedom 7 mission to space вЂ“ the first spaceflight for an American.Д®arly on, when they said they wanted the capsule to come down at a certain place, they were trying to compute when it should start. Onscreen, Johnson was portrayed by Taraji P Henson.ДЄmong tributes on Monday, the science writer Maryam Zaringhalam posted a quote by Johnson: вЂњGirls are capable of doing everything men are capable of doing. She joined Naca in 1952 but with fellow mathematicians Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson and Dr Christine Darden, her story of overcoming racial and gender-based discrimination to become an integral part of NasaвЂ™s work in space exploration was largely overlooked until the release of Theodore MelfiвЂ™s Oscar-nominated film in 2017. She graduated from the historically black West Virginia State College and taught at black public schools before becoming one of three black students to integrate West Virginia graduate schools in 1939. As the small town had no schools for blacks beyond the eighth grade, her father sent her and her siblings to Institute, West Virginia, for high school. Johnson was born in August 1918 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. On Monday, Shetterly told the Associated Press JohnsonвЂ™s story shone вЂњa light on the stories of so many other peopleвЂќ and provided вЂњa new way to look at black history, womenвЂ™s history and American historyвЂќ.

вЂњKatherine organized herself immediately at her desk, growing phone-book-thick stacks of data sheets a number at a time, blocking out everything except the labyrinth of trajectory equations,вЂќ Shetterly wrote. In the 2016 book Hidden Figures, on which the film of the same title was based, the author Margot Lee Shetterly wrote of JohnsonвЂ™s вЂњeye-numbing, disorienting workвЂќ crunching numbers. вЂњHer pioneering legacy will never be forgotten,вЂќ he said. In a tweet, the Nasa administrator, Jim Bridenstine, said вЂњour Nasa familyвЂќ was saddened by the death of вЂњan American heroвЂќ. Sometimes they have more imagination than men Katherine Johnson Girls are capable of doing everything men are capable of doing. Johnson was also known for verifying calculations by the Nasa computer that plotted John GlennвЂ™s mission into orbit, with lightning speed that led colleagues to call her a вЂњhuman computerвЂќ. In 1961, she contributed trajectory analysis to Alan ShepardвЂ™s Freedom 7 Mission, the first to carry an American into space. Johnson first worked on airplane programs, then joined Project Mercury, the first US human space program. Inside the Naca facility in Hampton, Virginia, signs indicated which bathrooms women and African Americans could use. Johnson worked at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, or Naca, a segregated computing unit which became the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Nasa, in 1958.

In a statement, the US space agency said: вЂњToday, we celebrate her 101 years of life and honor her legacy of excellence that broke down racial and social barriers.вЂќ

Katherine johnson nasa white or black