Katherine Johnson (August 25, 1918 – February 24, 2020) was an African-American physicist and mathematician who worked on calculating trajectories for NASA. Her work was critical to the success of Project Mercury, the Apollo missions, and the Space Shuttle, but her story wasn’t well known until recently. Johnson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom award on November 24, 2015, and was the subject of the 2016 book and movie, “Hidden Figures”.
