Katherine Johnson just turned 99 years old, and her life is on a roll.
She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, spoke on stage at the Academy Awards and saw her career developed into a best-selling book and a hit movie adaptation. She will get her own LEGO figure later this year.
Next up: On Sept. 22, NASA Langley Research Center — where she worked for more than three decades as a “human computer†in the early days of the nation’s space program — will formally open a new building named in her honor. The Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility will be a state-of-the-art lab for innovative research and development supporting NASA’s exploration missions.
“It’s a perfect storm in that we were building a computational research facility, and that’s what she did as a human computer,†said Mike Finneran, from NASA Langley’s communications department. “It made sense to name it after her. It fits, and it’s the right thing to do.â€
The 1 p.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony will be streamed live online at nasa.gov/nasatv.
Johnson was not available for an interview, but when plans for the building were announced in May 2016, she spoke with typical modesty about her job at NASA Langley: "Everything was a question, and finding the answer was my problem. I just did everything to the best of my abilities."
When asked about her newfound attention, Johnson has repeatedly said that the most important and exciting element to her has been the notion that her story has inspired a generation of young girls to take an interest in technological fields.
In the days before modern calculators, Johnson’s intricate mathematics work played a critical role in NASA’s early space flights. When John Glenn became the first person to orbit the Earth, he famously requested that Johnson double-check the math on his re-entry route — because he believed her figures to be more precise than the data provided by NASA’s enormous state-of-the-art computers.
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner and Gov. Terry McAuliffe are planning to attend the ceremony, as is Hampton Mayor Donnie Tuck and author Margot Lee Shetterly, whose book “Hidden Figures†captured the attention of the nation by telling the stories of Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson — three African-American women who did landmark work at NASA Langley in a time and place when neither women nor blacks were thought to have a role in scientific and technological fields.
“Katherine Johnson broke through barriers of gender and race to become a trailblazer for other women and people of color looking to join the ranks at NASA,†Warner told the Daily Press by email. “Without a doubt, her unbreakable spirit and her story will continue to inspire others to pursue their goals in the face of adversity. This well-deserved recognition is long-overdue and I look forward to joining in honoring her lasting legacy at NASA Langley.â€
Johnson will attend the ceremony as well. While confined to a wheelchair, she has still made an effort to accept as many requests and invitations as possible as the “Hidden Figures†story continues to inspire kids and adults.
“We’re all amazed and inspired by her,†Finneran said. "At her age, to be still out there doing this is fantastic.It’s reflective of who she was when she was working here.â€
The Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility came with a price tag of $23 million. It consolidates five Langley data centers and more than 30 server rooms into one 37,000-square-foot structure. NASA reports note that much of the work traditionally done by the research center’s famous wind tunnels eventually will be performed by computers similar to the ones in the laboratory bearing Johnson’s name.
Holtzclaw can be reached by phone at 757-928-6479 or on Twitter @mikeholtzclaw.
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