Katherine Johnson showed prowess for mathematics at a very early age. She became one of the first black women to work as a NASA scientist in the 1950s, played a key role in calculating John Glenn’s orbit around Earth and the trajectory for the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, and made contributions to the plans for a Mars mission.
She was portrayed by Taraji P. Henson in the 2016 film Hidden Figures.
She died on February 24, 2020, at the age of 101.