Hidden Human Computers: The Black Women of NASA

Hidden Human Computers: The Black Women of NASA — page 7
was done through Great Britain's Royal Navy all the computers were men NAVIGATING BY THE STARS AND PLANETS When human computing was used to create a navigational almanac in Ship captains relied on the stars and planets to navigate using a technique known as celestial navigation They used the North Star most often In the Northern Hemisphere it is always to the north hanging above the North Pole Navigators could also use the planets to navigate but the position of other planets in relation to Earth changes This is because every planet in the solar system orbits the sun but each does so at different rates Navigating by planets required complex mathematical tables constructed by astronomers and human computers the United States women again joined the ranks crunching numbers and solving problems Still these women were white Black women such as Easley did not work as computers for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics NACA which later became NASA until World War II 1939 1945 Swept under the Rug Before World War II job choices for educated black women were limited to nursing and teaching Because of this many women interested in math decided to teach it to others It was not until World War II that NACA hired black female mathematicians including Easley Katherine Johnson and Kathryn Peddrew NASA continued to hire