Dorothy Vaughan

Basic Info
1. b. 1910, Kansas City, MO; d. 2008.
  1. Contributed largely to the development of NASA and the racial equality within their workplace
Youth and Studies
1. 1924: graduated from Beechurst High School as Valedictorian
  1. 1929: B.A. in Mathematics from Wilberforce University
    1. Graduated Cum Laude
      1. Was encouraged to pursue a doctorate but went into teaching after undergraduate instead
Teacher & Researcher
1. Was a math teacher at Robert Russa Moton high school in Farmville, VA
  1. 1943: hired by NACA (later NASA)
    1. Roosevelt issued executive order 8802 to desegregate the defense community- this led to the opportunity for Dorothy and the others to work for NASA
      1. 1949-1958: head of the national advisory committee for aeronautics (NACA’s) segregated west area computing unit
        1958 Was transferred to the analysis and computation division when NACA became NASA
        Became an expert FORTRAN programmer
        Contributed to the scout launch vehicle program
Later Years
1. 1971: retired from NASA
  1. 2008: passed away @ age 98
    1. 2019: posthumously awarded Congressional Gold Medal
      1. 2019: Vaughan crater on the far side of the moon was named in her honor
        2020: a satellite named after her was launched into space

Resource summary

	Created by Joseph Gianotti about 3 years ago