Photo by Vaughan Family, via NASA.gov

• MATHEMATICIAN
• Worked as a high school math teacher before being hired by NASA in 1943 as a human computer, performing complex mathematical equations (before electronic computers were in use) that informed numerous space missions
• Faced racism and segregation inside NASA, required to sit at "colored" lunch tables and work in a separate building from white employees
• Promoted in 1949 to supervisor of her division, becoming the FIRST Black manager -- male or female -- in NASA's history, as well as the FIRST woman to supervise the West Area Computers
• As electronic computers became more reliable, Vaughan's role changed from calculating to programming; she became an expert on the FORTRAN computer language, writing both code for the machines and training manuals for programmers
• Stayed at NASA for almost thirty years, retiring in 1971

Bibliography: Edwards, Sue B. and Duchess Harris, JD, PHD. Hidden Human Computers: The Black Women of NASA. Minneapolis: Abdo Publishing, 2017. Print.
Shetterly, Margot Lee. Dorothy Vaughan Biography. https://www.nasa.gov

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