"A detail-rich picture book." --Kirkus Reviews
"Straightforward and inviting." --School Library Journal
From award-winning author Lesa Cline-Ransome and acclaimed illustrator
Raúl Colón comes the sensitive, informative, and inspiring picture book
biography of the remarkable mathematician Katherine Johnson, one of the
NASA "human computers" whose work was critical to the first US space
launch.
Before John Glenn orbited the Earth or astronauts walked on the moon, a
group of dedicated female mathematicians known as "human computers" used
their knowledge, pencils, adding machines, and writing paper to
calculate the orbital mechanics needed to launch spacecraft. Katherine
Johnson was one of these mathematicians who used trajectories and
complex equations to chart the space program. Even as Virginia's Jim
Crow laws were in place in the early 1950s, Katherine worked analyzing
data at the NACA (later NASA) Langley laboratory.
In 1962, as NASA prepared for the orbital mission of John Glenn,
Katherine Johnson was called upon and John Glenn said "get the girl"
(Katherine Johnson) to run the numbers by hand to chart the complexity
of the orbital flight. He knew that his flight couldn't work without her
unique skills.
President Barack Obama awarded Katherine Johnson the Presidential Medal
of Freedom in 2015 and her incredible life inspired the Oscar-nominated
film Hidden Figures. Get to know this incredible and inspirational
woman with this beautifully illustrated picture book from an
award-winning duo.