His calculations allowed the United States to conquer the Moon. American mathematician Katherine Johnson died at the age of 101, NASA announced on Monday February 24.
The career of this great figure among black Americans inspired the film The Shadow Figures, released in 2016, adapted from the book by Margot Lee Shetterly, which recounted the all too often overlooked contribution of black women in the American conquest of the 'space.
The scientist had remained relatively unknown until President Barack Obama awarded her in 2015 the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the highest civilian distinctions in the United States.
A graduate in mathematics, Katherine Johnson joined the American space program – the future NASA – in 1953, and had the primary task of controlling the work of her superiors using calculations.
Black mathematicians, away from their white colleagues
At that time, racial segregation was still in effect in the United States, and the scientist worked in a position of "Colored computer" ("Color computer") with dozens of other black mathematicians, away from their white colleagues. It was only in 1958 that his team was integrated into other NASA divisions, to be part of the first manned space flight program in the United States.
Katherine Johnson then helped calculate the flight of Alan Shepard, the first American to go into space.
During her three-decade career with the space agency, Katherine Johnson developed crucial equations that enabled the United States to send astronauts into orbit and to the Moon, formulas still used in contemporary aerospace science. In particular, she calculated the trajectories of Apollo-11, the historic mission that made Neil Armstrong the first man to walk on the Moon in 1969.
NASA paid tribute to the scientist on Monday. "She was a hero of America, a pioneer whose heritage will never be forgotten", wrote James Bridenstine, the head of the US space agency.
Katherine Johnson allowed "To eliminate racial and gender barriers", hailed NAACP, the largest black defense organization in the United States.
