Katherine G. Johnson, born on August 28th, 1918, spent her early childhood living in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia with her mother, Joylette, and her father, Joshua. Her mother was a teacher, and her father alternated between farm and janitorial work. When Katherine's local education ended -- the local school regrettably accomodated African American only children until 8th grade -- her father committed to driving her (and the rest of the kids in the family) 125 miles to a school in another city so she could continue learning.

A brilliant student, Katherine graduated from high school at age 14, and from college -- she attended West Virginia State University -- she went on to graduate school at West Virginia University, where she received her degree in math.

After teaching grade school for 17 years, she was recruited by Langley Research Center to work as a mathematician in 1953. In 1958, she went to NASA to be a part of the formerly all-male Flight Mechanics Branch, and later to the Spacecraft Controls Branch. 

Among her accomplishments: calculated the trajectory for Alan Shepherd's space flight in 1959. 2) calculated Alan Shepherd's Project Mercury Mission in 1961. 3) plotted backup navigational charts 4) called upon to verify the computer's numbers for John Glenn's orbit around the earth 5) calculated trajectory for Apollo 11's flight to the moon.

Katherine retired from NASA in 1986 and she currently lives in Hampton, Virginia with her husband.