Celebrating Black History Month: Black Women in STEM

It’s February, and as we honor and celebrate Black History month, we at STEMuses want to shine a spotlight on the amazing and inspiring black women in STEM.  Today, we want to focus on three remarkable computer scientist who played a crucial role in the success of John Glenn’s spacecraft in 1962: Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Dorothy Vaughan.

Mary Jackson, one of the first female African American NASA engineers, was an aerospace engineer who analyzed flight patterns of NASA spacecrafts. Katherine Johnson was a NASA mathematician who helped determine the correct flight path and orbit for a round trip from earth to the moon.  Dorothy Vaughan not only calculated the flight path of Apollo but also became the first African American manager at NASA. These were amazing accomplishments.  These women broke barriers and made groundbreaking contributions to Project Apollo, despite discrimination and facing restrictive working conditions in the late 1950s and early 1960s.  

Their stories are beautifully portrayed in the film “Hidden Figures,” which is a must watch for anyone seeking inspiration.  Don’t miss this opportunity to watch and learn about these remarkable black women and their accomplishments in STEM.

Image credits: @Yonescat, Florin Simion. “Hidden Figures: Behind the Numbers.” The Royal Astronomical Society. Accessed February 5, 2023. https://ras.ac.uk/hidden-figures-behind-the-numbers.