MATHEMATICIAN

Katherine Johnson

1918 - 2020

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Creola Katherine Johnson (née Coleman; August 26, 1918 – February 24, 2020) was an American mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights. During her 33-year career at NASA and its predecessor, she earned a reputation for mastering complex manual calculations and helped pioneer the use of computers to perform the tasks. The space agency noted her "historical role as one of the first African-American women to work as a NASA scientist". Johnson's work included calculating trajectories, launch windows, and emergency return paths for Project Mercury spaceflights, including those for astronauts Alan Shepard, the first American in space, and John Glenn, the first American in orbit, and rendezvous paths for the Apollo Lunar Module and command module on flights to the Moon. Read more on Wikipedia

Her biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Katherine Johnson is the 78th most popular mathematician (up from 88th in 2019), the 510th most popular biography from United States (up from 513th in 2019) and the 4th most popular American Mathematician.

Katherine Johnson is most famous for being one of the three African-American women who helped NASA launch John Glenn into space in 1962.

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Among MATHEMATICIANS

Among mathematicians, Katherine Johnson ranks 78 out of 1,004. Before her are Giuseppe Peano, Stanislaw Ulam, Siméon Denis Poisson, Bhāskara II, Regiomontanus, and János Bolyai. After her are Pappus of Alexandria, Benoit Mandelbrot, Thābit ibn Qurra, Zhang Heng, Alfred North Whitehead, and Bonaventura Cavalieri.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1918, Katherine Johnson ranks 19. Before her are Robert Wadlow, Helmut Schmidt, Frederick Sanger, Alberto Ascari, Ernst Otto Fischer, and Kai Siegbahn. After her are Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Takashi Kasahara, Jens Christian Skou, Jørn Utzon, Ken Miles, and Martin Ryle. Among people deceased in 2020, Katherine Johnson ranks 16. Before her are Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Pierre Cardin, Max von Sydow, Tabaré Vázquez, David Prowse, and John Saxon. After her are Paolo Rossi, Olivia de Havilland, Krzysztof Penderecki, Albert Uderzo, Michel Piccoli, and Eduard Limonov.

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Katherine Johnson ranks 510 out of 20,380. Before her are Theodore William Richards (1868), Gene Kelly (1912), William Howard Stein (1911), Billie Holiday (1915), Jack Kerouac (1922), and Jessica Lange (1949). After her are John Lithgow (1945), Marsha Hunt (1917), Ice Cube (1969), Christopher Walken (1943), Nicole Kidman (1967), and J. P. Morgan (1837).

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Among MATHEMATICIANS In United States

Among mathematicians born in United States, Katherine Johnson ranks 4. Before her are John Forbes Nash Jr. (1928), Charles Sanders Peirce (1839), and Norbert Wiener (1894). After her are Herbert A. Hauptman (1917), Jim Simons (1938), Claude Shannon (1916), Paul Cohen (1934), John Tate (1925), Mary Jackson (1921), Edward Norton Lorenz (1917), and Alonzo Church (1903).

American born Mathematicians

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